Never Surrender
by Sharingan0426
Summary: A mysterious group known as the Council of Lorii are discovered. They claim to be at war with the Sound. What are their true intentions? My first Fanfic, read and review. 2nd person in 1st few chapters, then changed to 3rd person. Complete!
1. Mission for Konoha

**Never Surrender**

Your character is Xorias, an 18 year old male orphan. Your parents were killed on an attack on your village when you were 10. Your great grandfather was a member of the Uchiha Clan. You have a two half siblings, but have never met them. Your parents were both ninja, but you know only basic ninjutsu and taijutsu. You have learned to be a weapons master once you were taken in by a group known as "The Council of Lorii." This group is very secretive and not much is known about them. There are 13 members, and your master, friend, and father figure, is a man named Durei. Your outfit (as an active member of The Council of Lorii) is a black, hooded robe (much like the robes of Organization XIII from Kingdom Hearts 2). This story takes place 4 years into Shippuuden, where Naruto and the others are 18.

**Prologue:** Xorias' Point of View

Your heavy footsteps echoed through the long hallway to the Council Room. "_I wonder what The Council wants from me," you thought. _They rarely called upon you for much as you mostly trained with Durei. "I hope they don't plan on having me clean up the bathrooms again," you said to yourself. Your hood hid the disgusted look on your face. You came to the door. You knocked, walked in and all other 12 members were there. "Must be a big job," you concluded. "Actually it isn't, but may be beneficial to you. You need a break, but you still will have some work to do. You will be tracking down an ex-member of The Council of Lorii. He was last heard of in Konoha. You will go there. It's also a place of relaxation, so get some R&R while your at it," Larza said. He is the leader of The Council. "It will be done, sir," you replied. With that, you bowed your head slightly and left the room. You packed all your necessities, and slung them over your shoulder.

You were off to Konoha.

**Chapter 1**

You walked down the road to Konoha, stopping occasionally to rest. You were known for speed, like the ninja hopping through the trees speed. Your parents _were_ ninja after all. You placed your hand over your forehead and looked down the road. The walls were in sight, but were still far away. You started walking again. After, a few minutes, you stopped as you thought you heard someone. You looked around but heard nothing. You walked a few more minutes and nearing the gate, when you had that eerie feeling like you were being watched. You stopped again.

You snapped around to see two men standing behind you. They were both wearing green jacket vests, one with pointy silver hair and the other with an ugly bowl-cut. "Well, interesting you discovered us so quickly," one said. "Just a coincidence," you replied. "You were emitting suspicious behavior for the last hour or so," the other remarked. "It's called walking," you retorted. "You put on foot in front of the other and y-" you were cut off. "What are you doing so close to our village?" The gray-haired one asked. "I'm not at liberty to discuss that with you," you replied. "Then we'll take that as a hostile gesture," the other said.

They took their battle stances, and you reached for your two scimitars hoisted to your back. Your hood still on, they didn't know what you looked like. The ugly bowl cut one charged at you, fists flying everywhere. But you were quicker and had a lot of training in hand to hand fighting. At one point, he threw a punch at your head. You reacted by pushing it to the side and lifting your leg up and kicking him back a few feet. You put away your swords and began hand to hand combat. You jumped and swung your leg around to kick him in the head. He ducked and executed a sweeping leg kick, knocking you from your feet. You countered as you landed on your hands and flipped backwards. You threw a few punches at him and he blocked them. You jumped back as he charged at you.

In response, you leapt upon his shoulders, flipped around and kicked him. He landed hard on the ground. You smirked, but it quickly disappeared as _he_ disappeared. He appeared in front of you and kicked you back. He charged at you, and you ducked. You then kicked him in the stomach and sent him back a few yards. While he was temporarily stunned, you pulled 4 shuriken out of your pouch, two in each hand. You threw them at the stunned ninja.

Then a flash appeared in front of him and the shuriken were knocked off course and flew off in random directions. The silvery-haired ninja intervened by knocking away the shuriken with a kunai. "Let's end this before blood is shed," he said. He put his hand over his forehead protector and pulled it up, revealing a red eye and a very long scar running on the left side of his face. His many "dots" in his eye moved in a circle a few times. He stared at you while they were circling, and you lost consciousness.

"This one was very well trained in the arts of taijutsu," the ugly bowl cut haired man admitted. The red-eyed man added, "We should take him to Konoha and get him to Lady Hokage." "I agree, Kakashi," the other replied.

**The Hokage's Point of View**

"Go, now," you ordered. "Yes, Lady Hokage," he replied. Neji left the room. (By the way, Neji is leader of the ANBU team) As he left the room, Kakashi and Guy entered the room. "Ah, you're back. What was the disturbance?" you inquired as you raised one eyebrow. "This kid. He was emitting strange behavior outside the walls," Guy replied. Sakura came through the door, with the man they brought into Konoha. You slapped your head, "You imbeciles! This is Xorias Odamori! He is here to aid us in the fight against the Sound! Our client sent him! And you beat him to a bloody pulp!" Actually, he doesn't have many scratches on him at all," Kakashi replied calmly. "He almost beat Guy," Kakashi added. Then he couldn't hold it in any longer. "Hahahahaha! You got your ass handed to you by a kid! He didn't even have any ninjutsu or anything!" Kakashi was rolling on the floor laughing. "The Great Might Guy, beaten by a child!" he laughed. You ignored him and turned to Xorias. "I'm sorry about all this." "It's okay," he replied.

My assistant, Sakura, will show you around the city," you continued as you pointed to her. She bowed to Xorias and held out her left hand toward the door out of your office. Xorias followed the gesture and left the room. Sakura fell in suit behind him and left as well.

**Chapter 2: Xorias' Point of View**

You followed Sakura out of the building. She lead you into what seemed to be a market. It bustled with commerce and people shuffling between stalls, and the occasional "Hey, you need to pay for that!" There was even a stand that had a few books, which was rare for a street marketplace. There was an older man with white hair that ran down to about the middle of his back. He beckoned you over. "Hey kid, come on over and see the selection of the finest books I myself have written!" You walked over to him.

Sakura was shaking her head, but you couldn't see anything. He handed you a book, labeled, Make-Out Paradise, Book One. "Read the first couple of pages and you will be hooked immediately," he reasoned. "Fine," you replied. You took the book and turned to the first page. It read, "Make-out Paradise. You turned to page 2. Your jaw dropped as you read over the next few pages. Sakura stared in disgust, "How can you read those you pervert. You are just like Naruto and Kakashi-sensei!" You replied, "Old man, you are so sick! This is disgusting!" The old man's smile disappeared. Sakura lost all anger towards you and said, "Oh, never mind then." "Come on Xorias, let me show you around more," she said as she walked away from the stand.

As she walked away, you turned to the old man. "Give me a copy of Book One," you winked and gave him the amount of money needed. You both smirked and you walked off.

You followed Sakura out of the marketplace. She led you by a small shop. "This is Ichiraku. The local ramen shop. You will usually find Naruto here." She walked in and the man at the front counter noticed she walked in. "Well, hello Sakura! I haven't seen you in a while. There's always a spot for you here, if you need something" he said. She put her hand behind her head and smiled. "Thank you," she replied. She left the shop and headed down the street again.

She lead you to a small house about one story high. "This is Naruto's house. It's where you will be staying," she pointed to it. She was about to knock on the door when someone opened the door. "Oh, Naruto, hi," she greeted. "Hello, Sakura. You are looking beautiful this morning," he commented. He kissed her on the cheek, then gave her a hug. He led you and Sakura into his home. "It's small, but it's home," he said. "I need to go change into my clothes, I'll be right back," he assured. He left the room.

"Who was that?" you inquired. "That was Naruto," she replied. "That was the one you were referring to at the book stand," you recalled. "Yeah, but most of the time, he's really sweet. Hinata's lucky to have him," she replied smiling. "Hinata?" you asked. "Oh, his girlfriend for the last couple of years." "So he's not your boyfriend?" you concluded. "Oh no," she blushed. "He's a really sweet guy but we are just very good friends and are very comfortable around each other," she replied. "I see," you said. Naruto walked back into the room in his outfit.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "It's fine," you both said. "Naruto, this is Xorias," she introduced you. "Glad to meet you," he said. "Likewise," you replied. You both smiled. She continued, "He will be staying with you for the duration of his mission." "Very well, I'll see to it that he enjoys his stay," Naruto assured. "Thank you," she replied. " I must be getting back to Lady Hokage. You know how she gets when she gets mad." she said. With that, she kissed Naruto on the cheek and left the house. She took off back to the Hokage's building. "So, what do you think of Konoha, Xorias?" Naruto asked. "I like it. It's a nice, peaceful town," you replied solemnly. "Good, I'm glad you like it," he responded. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Naruto said loudly. The same silvery-haired man you encountered earlier on that morning walked in. "Hello, Naruto," he greeted. "Hi, Kakashi-sensei," he replied with a wave. "I was told this was where Xorias was staying," he assumed. "You heard right," he replied. "Sorry about earlier," he said as he walked in and closed the door behind him. "I haven't properly introduced myself yet. My name is Kakashi Hatake. A ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves." "Glad to meet you Kakashi," you said. "So, what exactly was that technique you used on me earlier," you inquired. "It's called the Sharingan. It's an eye technique that only members of the Uchiha clan possess. I am the exception. My old friend in my squad was killed and I lost my left eye. He gave me his left eye. I permanently possess the Sharingan and it takes a lot of chakra, which is why I must wear my headband over my left eye," Kakashi explained. "Uchiha you say… it sounds familiar," you pondered.

"Yeah, a member of the Akatsuki is named, Itachi Uchiha. He allegedly killed off every member of the Uchiha clan. The only surviving members being himself and his brother Sasuke. Sasuke left the village about six years ago, to become more powerful. He now follows Orochimaru, our enemy.

"Let's get down to business," Kakashi said. "My orders are to train you and get you fit for battle." "But I am already highly trained in-" you protested. Kakashi interrupted, "_Taijutsu." _"But not in ninjutsu," he said. "Ninjutsu?" you asked. "Things that involve chakra," he explained. He beckoned you outside. You followed him. He did a few hand signs. "**Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu**" He put his hands near his mouth and fire came rushing out. "See? Ninjutsu," he stated. "I can make clones, but that's it. I was only taught very basic stuff like that. Now I remember ninjutsu. I hadn't heard of that term for so long," you explained. "Well, we have a long way to go. Let's begin," he stated. "Yes," you agreed.

Over the next few weeks, Kakashi taught you ninjutsu, easy and difficult. You learned many fire jutsus, earth jutsus, water jutsus and non-elemental jutsus. Naruto taught you the Shadow Clone Jutsu. You learned the names of most of the people in the village. You loved this place. But you were still far from completing your _mission. _

One day when you were training. "There is one jutsu of my own that I have not taught you. He did a few hand signs and placed his right hand over his left wrist as he held his hands about face level. You watched in awe as you saw lightning come out of his hand. "_The chakra is so strong, it's visible!" you thought. _He relaxed his hands as the lightning disappeared.

"It's called Chidori. It's a Jounin level technique. It will be difficult for you without the possession of the Sharingan," he explained. So you spent the next week trying to master the Chidori. You were able to get a few lightning strikes to appear, but you had a lot of work to do. You don't get very far before the lightning quit and disappears. You can't wield and focus your chakra that much, that long. But you weren't going to give up.

**Chapter 3: Xorias' Point of View**

You woke up the next morning to the smell of eggs and bacon. "That smells good," you said to yourself. "Mornin' Naruto," you said as you staggered passed him. "Hi," he replied. "You didn't make this Naruto, who did?" you asked as you sat down to the table. Around the corner came a beautiful raven-haired girl.

"I did," she said. "Who's this?' you asked as she walked over to Naruto and kissed him. "This is Hinata, my girlfriend," he explained. "You haven't seen her because she just got back from a mission," Naruto said as he returned the kiss. "Well, it's nice to meet you Hinata," you said as you got up and bowed to her and kissed her hand. "Likewise Xorias," she replied. "You know my name?" you asked. "Yes, Naruto has told me all about you," You sat back down. Naruto pulled out the chair and let Hinata settle in. "This smells delicious," you exclaimed. "Thank you," she replied. You all finished eating and put your dishes in the sink. You washed them using shadow clones. "Well, I need to get out of here. I need to meet Kakashi," you said as you opened the door. "Alright, bye," Naruto replied.

You left the house and closed the door. You walked down the street to Kakashi's house. You nearly slammed into a little girl. She had short black hair. She looked at you. "I'm sorry sir," she said solemnly. "Don't worry about it," you replied warm-heartedly. You patted her head and smiled.

"Well, well," someone said behind you. "Look's like we've finally found her," another said. "You piece of worthless filth." "We are going to kill her and then kill you if you don't stay out of this," the first said. "_Thugs…" you thought. _"You want her?" you asked in a threatening voice. "You have to go through me," you finished with a harsh tone.

You did a few hand signs, placed you left hand over your right wrist and held it about head level. After a few seconds you thrust your hands down near the ground. "_Maybe I can scare them off with Chidori. That way no blood is shed," you thought. _A spark came out of your hand. Then another and then another. Soon there were an number of lightning bolts coming out of your right hand. "Leave _now_!" You threatened. Some of the thugs were shocked at your ninjutsu. But something went wrong.

"OK, fine. We'll leave you and her alone, just let us li-" but they were interrupted as the sounds of your Chidori were dying down. "_Come on! Just a little longer!" you thought in desperation. _But too much chakra was being used and the jutsu was dispelled. "Well, never mind," the leader said. "We over-estimated you. Get 'em," he said. The little girl started crying, "I don't want to die!" "We aren't going to die," you assured her.

You thought up of a plan. You pulled out some shuriken from your pouch. You threw them at the thugs, "**Ninja Art; Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu**" The shuriken started multiplying exponentially. But the thugs were quicker as the shuriken whizzed by them. Almost all of them missed the thugs. "You missed," one said triumphantly. "Wasn't aiming at you," you retorted.

You moved your fingers and small strings became visible attached to the shuriken. Their were nearly a hundred strings. "Now you have made me angry!" you yelled. "**Fire Style; Dragon Flame Jutsu**" "WHAT?!?" the leader yelled as the flames flowed along the string as quick as lightning, engulfing him and his flunkies.

Just then, Sakura had walked around the corner. "Xorias… you… you saved that little girl, even though you didn't know her," she said. "You saved my little sister!"


	2. The Details

**Never Surrender**

**_A/N: This is my first fan fiction, please read and review._ **

**Xorias' Point of View**

Sakura ran over and gave you a hug. "She ran away, and I didn't know where she went to. Those thugs would've killed her had you not stepped in." "But I had to shed blood, I couldn't hold my Chidori. I couldn't maintain it," you said with a frustrated look on your face. "They asked for it, and besides, you saved my sister. That's all that matters," Sakura reasoned. "By the way, why did she run away?" you queried. "She got in a fight with my mother…" she explained as she put it bluntly. "Ah, there you are Xorias," you heard as a voice rang out from behind a building in the area. Kakashi walked out into view. "The Hokage wishes to see you," he continued. "Right," you replied. You turned to Sakura. "See you later," you said. You walked around the corner, following Kakashi.

"Kakashi?" you decided to ask. "What is it?" Kakashi responded. "Just before you arrived, I saved Sakura's little sister." "What's wrong? You don't boast. I don't know you perfectly, but I know you aren't cocky." "Heh, you're right. Well, I didn't want to shed any blood when the thugs attacked…" you continued. Kakashi stopped walking. He turned to you. "I tried to use Chidori to scare them off, but it didn't hold up. I failed." "Xorias, I have taught you how to use the jutsu. The rest is up to you. I taught it to you because I figured you were ready. You might not be able to master it, it's just how it can turn out. Or it might just take time. Practice, practice. You will most likely master the jutsu with practice, Xorias." Yes, Kakashi-sensei. Thank you," you bowed your head slightly. "Oh, and one more thing Xorias… you mentioned thugs. We keep our crime to zero in this village. We don't have thugs in this city. There are no thugs. If that's the case, we were just invaded on a smaller scale. I will need to talk with the ANBU on this. I will do that now," Kakashi said as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. You started to walk to the office of the Hokage. As you were walking, you heard footsteps behind you. As you stopped, the noise was gone. Every once in a while on the way to see Tsunade, you thought you heard noise behind you. It was like you were being watched.

You arrived at the Hokage's office. You knocked on the door to her office. "Come on in," someone yelled. You opened the door and walked in. "You arrived, good," the Hokage said. "I wanted to talk to you. I want to make you a Chuunin. I would start you out at the lowest level, but your abilities are far beyond that of a genin. So from this moment on, you are a chuunin. Go talk to Shikamaru, I believe you met him a week ago or so when you were training with Kakashi, right? You can ask him for pointers on being a chuunin," "Yes, Lady, thank you," you replied. You closed the door as you left the room. You kept walking through the marketplace seeing people bustling trying to get ready for the next morning as it was evening. "I have nothing to do I might as well train," you said to yourself. You went to the proving grounds. You moved your hands together in perfect synchronization.

_Flashback: "Practice, practice. You will most likely master the jutsu with practice, Xorias." End Flashback._

You thrust your hands down to the ground. "Chidori!" you shouted. Lightning started coming out of your hand. "Come on! Hold out!" It didn't. The Chidori died away. "Damnit…" you said to yourself. You tried maybe another twenty times. Finally you had calmed down. "_Focus… focus… focus… focus my chakra,"_ you thought calmly. Chidori began to form again. "Focus my chakra…" you said. Chidori was getting more powerful. It lasted a few more seconds. But it was still a ways to go before you were able to utilize it. "Well, that was a successful evening," you stated to yourself. You placed your hands behind your head, and started walking to where you were staying, Naruto's house, smiling at the progress you made in a few hours.

Almost dark, you arrived at Naruto's, and you walked in through the door. "Hey Xorias!" Hinata greeted you. "Oh, hi Hinata. Do you know where Naruto is?" you asked. "Yeah, he should be upstairs," she replied pointing to the stairs. As if on cue, Naruto came walking down the stairs. "Did you need something?" he asked. "Yes, can I use the shower?" you asked. Naruto laughed. "Of course you can. You don't need to ask. These are your quarters for the time being. You may treat this house as your home. I trust you, you don't need to ask to use things here," he explained. "Thanks," you replied. "Oh, by the way, we will be gone when you get out, we were just getting ready to go on a date. There won't be anyone here," Naruto said as you trudged into the bathroom. You acknowledged him with a simple wave of your hand.

You walked into the bathroom. You were going to be long. You had some serious cramps in your hand and back. You turned the hot water on and stepped in. You grabbed the soap and started washing up. You did what most people did when they had cramps. You just stood there under the steaming water for what seemed like a half an hour. Every so often you would turn your body as one side would get cold. After a long shower you turned off the water. You felt rejuvenated. But as you got out of the shower, still in the bathroom, you noticed you forgot the towel. "Damnit," you said to yourself. You stepped out of the bathroom without any clothes or your damn towel. And ran into something… or someone.

"Ahhhh!" someone yelled.

"Wahhh!" you yelled back.

"Ahhh!" the person yelled.

"Ahhh!" you screamed back at the person.

"Xorias! What in the hell are you doing?!" you noticed it was Sakura. "I was taking a shower and forgot my towel, went to go get it and was found naked by you. Even though this house was supposed to be _empty_!" you yelled as if screaming to someone upstairs. Sakura turned away. "I was coming to check on you, but it seems like you are doing fine," she chuckled slightly. You stopped for a second after her sexual innuendo-like comment. Then you kept walking upstairs. After a minute or so, you came back downstairs. "Much better," she said. "I don't know. You seemed to like it better when I didn't have my clothes on," you retorted. Naruto and Hinata just had walked through the door as she you just finished your comment to Sakura. "Don't your parents ever teach you decency every now and then, Xorias," she teased you. (Just think of this scene with Sadness and Sorrow playing) She chuckled a little. "My parents… are dead," you said quietly.

Sakura felt like the biggest ass in the entire world at that moment. "Xorias, I…" she began. You walked past Naruto and Hinata. And closed the door, calmly on your way out. You walked out towards the Hokage stone faces. And just watched. You saw families walking through the streets before it got too late. You didn't show it, but for the first time in a long time, you wanted to have a family to do the boring shopping with. Someone to smack your hand and tell you that you shouldn't be taking things from the market without paying for it, before putting it back. A single tear, came to your eye. Just then, you heard shuffling in the bushes. You noticed Sakura come around them. You turned back to watching the village families bustle. "Xorias, I'm, I'm sorry. I… I didn't know. I th-" "Eight years…" "What?" Sakura asked. "It's been eight years since my parents were killed. Eight years since anyone has brought it up,"

"It was eight years ago. My family was sitting down to dinner. It was an ordinary night. But then, two men attacked our village and our clan. Killing all but me." "What clan were you from?" "I don't remember. Or at least, I didn't want to remember…" "I was loved, had a family to spend time with, I had few cares in the world. And then someone took that away from me…" "Then the Council took me as their son almost. I felt like I had a family… I was happy again. But there was still something missing. Then I met you. You were my first friend. You were the first person that I let in. And then I met Naruto and Hinata. You are my greatest friends." "I would never let anything happen to you," "You were telling her this without making any eye contact with her. She came up from behind and hugged you.

"I'm sorry about what I said. You are an amazing person, naked or not," you both laughed and she started to walk off. You turned to her. "Sakura," you said quietly. "What is it?" she asked. "Thank you," you said. "Thank you for being there for me, and for listening to my story. The Council never wanted to hear about my life. That is what was missing and you and Naruto and Hinata filled that gap," She nodded her head and left you alone. Sakura walked back to Naruto's house her conscience cleared. Little did she know, someone was watching her.

Kakashi walked though the door to the mansion, where he was immediately greeted by ANBU as he was held down by ANBU. "Kakashi, what a pleasant surprise," "It's Kakashi's chakra signature," Neji stated. "What is your business Kakashi?" Neji asked as the ANBU ninja let him go. "Is this how you treat your former captain? Anyway, our man, Xorias, the one who is helping us in the fight against the Sound. He told me today, thugs attacked him. There are no thugs in Konoha. No one would attack their own people in this village. There is substantial evidence that we were invaded and are probably are being watched," Kakashi concluded. "Very well, we will look into this matter," one said. "Kakashi, why didn't you go to the Hokage?" Neji asked. "Because, I don't want to tell her something that may only be nothing, she already has enough to handle already, no need to put more on her plate," Kakashi explained. "Very well. Thank you Kakashi," Neji replied. And with that Kakashi left the manor.

You walked back to Naruto's house. As you were walking, you got that feeling that you were being watched again. Everyone was asleep as you opened the door to the house and went to your room, you felt something sharp against your throat. "If you want to live, you will not move," he threatened. "You under-estimate me," you retorted. You appeared behind him with a kunai pointing at his lower back. "Heh, not bad, Xorias," the man stated. "What?" you asked in shock. "How do you know who I am?" The man pulled back his hood. "Durei!" you said in bewilderment. "Why did you attack me?" "To see your progress," he replied simply. "Did you send the attackers after me?" "Yes, also merely to test you," he said. "That was risky," you replied. "You have ANBU and other ninja now on higher guard." "But they trust you, do they not? It was just to see the progress you were making. This is why I came here," he explained as he pulled an envelope out. "Here are the rest of your details or your mission," he stated. "We need your help finding this ex-member so that he can help us find where he put the sacred scrolls that would defeat the Sound one day, should they become a threat," he said as he left in a puff of smoke.

You opened the manila envelope to find the remaining details as your father figure said they would. It read as follows:

_Xorias Odamori Top Secret Document:_

_Named henceforth is the ex-member of the Council of Lorii. The one who knows the location of the sacred scrolls to defeat the Sound if the need had ever arise. _

_Orochimaru is on the loose and is planning to attack the Leaf Village according to our sources in two months. We need to know the location of these scrolls. The Sound is too powerful. We need these sacred scrolls. The one shinobi who knows where they are, deserted us eight years ago. He knew the location of the scrolls. You must find him, Xorias. Bring him to us at any cost. We are changing the location of our base twelve kilometers west. Bring him to us there. _

_Bring him at the very least in one month, or face punishment. _

_This shinobi is one of the most powerful, be very cautious when bringing him in. he will be difficult to take down. Especially because of a foreign power that was given to him. _

_He has many allies. You must get him alone, and keep his allies away. How to do this is completely in your hands. To demonstrate your use to us, bring him in… alive. Do this and your membership into the council will be complete. _

_Remember Xorias, there will be consequence for failure. Do not fail me._

_Signature: Larza Moranne_

As your read the last bit of information, you nearly shouted. Which would have waken Naruto. But you kept your calm, barely. You couldn't believe who the ex-council member was. You sat on the edge of your bed, placing your hands over your face. "I don't believe it. I can't believe the ex-member is… wow." You weren't amazed. That didn't half cover how you were feeling right then. "How did I not know…"

**Interactive Discussion:**

A/N:Who do you think the ex-member of The Council of Lorri was? Why?

**A/N: Cliffy! Sorry about that. I felt like I had to. Besides, I knew I would end this chapter here. As I said before, this is my first fan fiction. At this point I am accepting good or bad feedback.**


	3. The Task and the Decision

**A/N: Sorry for the delayed update, I will give a full explanation at the end of this chapter. So, without further ado, here is chapter 3. Read and review. Enjoy! **

**Never Surrender**

You were still trying to wrap your mind around it. Who knew that Kakashi Hatake was the ex-member of the Council of Lorii. "They want me to capture my sensei, my trainer?" you thought aloud. "Are they out of their minds? They can't make Kakashi crack, even if they tried. He is strong-willed and doesn't give in. And on top of that, he is one of the strongest ninja in the village. He won't be taken down easily. They're crazy. Even to attempt this feat, would be suicide. Bringing in Naruto, or some other ninja, it might be possible, but…" There was no way you could do this yourself. You needed help. But who would ever help you take out the copy ninja? It couldn't be someone from the village. It might have to be someone you knew for a while. Your breath became fast and your heart was racing. "I refuse to fight him…" you decided. "However, I respect the Council too much, not to do anything. I need to lure him into a trap. To do that I need to earn his full respect and trust." "I need to speak with the Council. I will leave now, before anyone wakes up until I get back," you concluded. With that, you crumpled the paper and tossed it behind the bed.

You quietly packed your things. You put on your robe, standard for Council hearings, and opened and closed the door as you walked out. You had only a few hours walking to do. The Council had moved their base, so they should be closer. The trip was so quiet. Then moon as nearly full. As you got farther and farther away from Konoha, the stars got brighter. There was a silence, that calmed your nerves. You could hear your own thoughts practically, and your footsteps seemed to echo in your mind as if they went on forever. As you neared the base, you noticed several people sitting in the trees. Had you not trained with Kakashi, you would not have noticed them. But they were just sitting there… watching you, as if they were waiting for the moment to strike you. But they must have known it was you as they lowered their guard and let you pass. "The new base is this way Xorias," one said. You merely nodded your head. You followed the guard to a large rock. He pricked his blood from his right thumb with his teeth, much like a summoning jutsu. He put two hand signs together, serpent and tiger, and placed his hand on the rock. The rock moved backwards revealing and underground entrance. He placed his hand in front of him as if beckoning you to enter the compound. You took the hint and entered. As you walked down the steps, you heard the rock covered the hole again.

You whipped your head around to see, but the place around you was pitch dark. At least outside there was the moon and all the stars. "**Fire Style; Fireball Jutsu**" you said quietly. You held the small flame in your hand and saw that the hall went in one direction. You followed the hallway down. The small hallway, opened into a large room with some light, very little, but enough that your eyes would adjust. You extinguished the flame and walked to the center of the room. There were eight directions to go. But one hallway was notably bigger than that of the other seven. So you walked in that direction. You soon came upon a smaller room than the room you were in earlier. "Well, if it isn't Xorias," you heard a voice. Torches all around the room started to light up. "Yes, I apologize for coming here Larza," you replied as you dropped to one knee. He sighed as he asked, "I'm really busy, what is it?" he said impatiently. "It is in regards to my mission," you said. "You took great risk coming here… you may have been followed." he said. "You took a great risk sending assassins after me. I know you were merely testing me, but you have every ninja on alert now, especially ANBU. However I was not followed," you assured your leader. "Good, now get on with it, time is short," he said quickly. "You asked me to bring in the copy ninja Kakashi alive… _You had to choose your words carefully, _but he is impossible to defeat, not even the Sannin, Orochimaru could bring him down," you said unsure of your abilities. "It's true. However, you have one thing that Orochimaru never had…"

"Trust," Larza explained as he rose from his chair and walked around the room. You were still on your knee. "Kakashi trusts you. Use that against him," he said. "My thought was to lure him into a trap. I request your help. And that of the Council as well," you said solemnly. Larza stopped momentarily. "Very well. I don't like it, but you are right. Kakashi is a powerful shinobi and he will not go down easily. I will have Fokuske and Durei, wait at the entrance of the base for the ambush. Because we are going to help you, Xorias, you have two weeks. Do you understand? You have two weeks to bring him here," he ordered. "Yes, sir," you replied. "Now. I have other business to attend to," he said as he shooed you out of the meeting room. "I will see you in two weeks," you said to him as you walked out of the room. You got back to the stairs. The rock was still in place. _Serpent… tiger._ You bit your thumb and placed your hands together and made the signs required. You placed your right hand on the rock and it moved over the hole in the ground. You hopped from the forest. "Oh no! Daybreak!" You noticed a bit of discoloration in the sky. Very faint, almost non-existent. But it was there. You broke into an immediate run. "If they find me out of the village at this time, they will be suspicious. You placed some of your chakra in your feet, causing your speed to increase exponentially. After an hour or so, the sun was almost up. You were approaching the village. The gates were closed so you climbed the wall and hopped over. You made it! You stopped to catch your breath. That's when you heard someone's voice behind you.

"Out for a morning stroll, are we?" Kakashi asked. "Yes, sensei. I decided to practice Chidori while I was out anyway." "How did it go?" he asked curiously. "I'm getting better. My chakra control has improved, allowing the Chidori to stay longer and do what I tell it to. But I still have a ways to go," you replied. It was at least partially true. The story was, but the timing of the training was off. "Really? Well, I would like to discuss something important with you. It is urgent. Meet me at my house in a half an hour," he ordered and disappeared. "_Oh no, does he know about the organization?" _you thought in alarm. "Let's just take this one step at a time," you said to yourself. You walked to Naruto's house. You opened the door. "Xorias. There you are. Where have you been?" "…Training…" you said as you hesitated. "Uh…huh," Naruto said unconvinced. "At any rate," he continued. "Kakashi dropped by, he told me to prepare your pack for the day. He said you would be there for most of the day. Apparently it was something important," he explained. "Here…" he offered as he handed you your sack. "By the way… where is Hinata?" you asked as you turned around, walking away from the door. "Oh, well, even though we are dating, her father doesn't like it, so she spends most nights at the Hyuuga compound. She is the heiress after all," he explained in rather short detail. "I see," you replied. "Alright see you later, Xorias," Naruto said as you left the house and shut the door behind you. You started off to Kakashi's house but you were going to be late. You had taken a kunai in your pack, just in case. You were nervous. What if he knew? What if he is going to kill you secretly where no one can hear you scream? You thought of all the things he could want with you. You arrived at his house. You knocked on the door.

He was dressed casually, not in usual uniform. He opened the door, "Xorias, you're late, explain yourself. I asked for you to be here twenty minutes ago," he said slightly annoyed. "What can I say? I walked under a ladder on my way here. So I had to take the long way to your house," you explained. "Good, you're learning," he laughed a little. The copy ninja let you in. His house was fairly small. About the size of Naruto's place, but it looked bigger somehow. Probably, because it was clean and picked up. Kakashi walked into the next room and started talking. "There is a reason I called you here. It's something most people would shun us for. You are the only other one I can trust to not do anything to me for doing this. Other than Jiraiya, of course," he explained. "That is why, we are going to discuss…" he stopped for a second then popped back into the room revealing a small object. "Make out Paradise!" he screamed like a three year old on a sugar high. "That's why you had Naruto pack my bag… so you wanted me to think that it was serious and…" "Hey this is serious!" Kakashi protested. "They are going to make a movie out of this material," he continued. "Then, let's get started," you said. "Well spoken," he replied. You spent multiple hours discussing the material in the Make Out Paradise. Off somewhere else in the village, Sakura was pointed in the direction of you and Kakashi by Naruto. She walked up to the door, and walked right in on your little "book session."

"Hah, I knew it! Xorias, you _are _addicted to those books," she exclaimed as she concluded her statement. Thinking quick on your feet, you flipped the book upside down and smacked Kakashi over the back of the head with it multiple times, each time yelling, "You brought me over here for _this_? I thought that this was supposed to be important. You are sick, and disgusting! And you-" Sakura interrupted, "Xorias. There are two books. One of them is yours," she deduced. "Damnit," you said as you hung your head in defeat. You got up from the couch and whacked him one more time not looking at him as you walked by, still hanging your head as you trudged out the door. "I didn't know you were like that," she said as she giggled. "Someone who I respect greatly reads them," she continued still laughing slightly. "You really are becoming more like Kakashi everyday," she said. That was something that you didn't want to hear at this point. With your relationship with Sakura and Kakashi growing, you felt horrible about what you inevitably had to do. You had to take your mind off it.

It was around lunch, so you offered to treat her and Naruto to ramen. Naruto of course accepted. And Sakura said yes, after much nagging from Naruto. The three of you sat down at the shop. And ordered three bowls total of ramen. One for each of you. "You know, if you are paying for this, since Naruto is here with us. You are going to have to wait for relatives to die and get their inheritance to pay for how much he eats. It's truly a mystery why he isn't as big as Choji," she said as the both of you laughed. After merely ten minutes, Naruto was on his fourth bowl. You simply looked at him and said in disbelief, "Is that your fourth bowl?!" "Hey, I'm hungry!" he grabbed a second pair of chopsticks and started eating faster. He gave you the evil glare equivalent of a five year olds look when sticking out their tongue. "Could you eat any faster? Would you like a bulldozer?" you retorted. He kept eating. Shortly thereafter he finished the bowl. "You going to eat the bowl, too?" Sakura was laughing the whole time. Naruto had decided he had enough to eat after six bowls and your constant nagging. You received the bill and paid for it. Naruto nodded his thanks as he finished his last bowl. Sakura walked up to you as were staggering off.

"Thanks for lunch," she said smiling. "…" you said nothing. "Xorias?" "Oh sorry, yeah, you're welcome," you replied, sulking in a way, barely noticeable. "What is it? Is something wrong?" Sakura asked. You said nothing. "Xorias, you can trust me. What is it?" "It's nothing," you replied as you started walking away. Sakura was crushed. "_He always came to me and told me everything. Yet now, he didn't want to tell me what was wrong. I know it has to be big. I had listened to him about his clan, his family being killed. What was so important, he couldn't tell me?_" Sakura thought. "Look, I'm sorry, I really care for you, but you would hate me if I told you. Let's just pretend this never happened, okay," you stopped and turned to her as you told her. "Okay, just promise me, promise me that you will tell me later," she begged. There was a silence, then you replied. "Okay, I promise, you said, smiling. She said her thanks again and you went in opposite directions to your respective homes. Again someone was watching you and Sakura interact.

As you walked home, you dreaded what you knew you had to do. Even going and having lunch with your friends, didn't take your mind off it completely. You walked to Naruto's house. You opened the door and walked in as if you had been carrying a ten ton weight all day. No one was there. There was a note on the counter in the kitchen. It said that Naruto was on a mission with the rest of team ten. They would be gone for about a week. It also said not to destroy the house or throw wild parties. You got a glass from the cupboard and turned on the faucet. You put water in it. You guzzled it down. You were tired. You sat on the couch.

"_What should I do? I respect Kakashi, but I also respect the Council. I don't want to betray the trust if my friends, but also that of the Council's. I'm not sure what to do. I want to do both things but I can't. Father… Mother, what should I do? _"I don't know what to do!" you shouted aloud. You then just lay on the couch until you fell asleep, thinking about what to do, and thinking of the consequences of each action.

You were leaning towards doing as the Council said. But as the next couple of weeks went on and your relationship with Sakura grew, as you started spending more time with her, you started to shy away from helping the Council, and started to think that taking Kakashi in was the wrong thing to do. Then about three days before the ambush was to take place, Durei made a secret visit to your quarters at sunset, when Naruto was shopping with Hinata. "Xorias," said pacing the room. "I just thought I would drop by and let you know that the ambush is in three days and we will be waiting as promised," he continued. You bit your lip, and looked down. "Xorias, I know that you don't want to, I really do," he said. "But you must understand, Larza is impatient and will not tolerate failure. You will be exiled, even killed if you do not do as he asks," he explained. You had been borderline on going against the Council's wishes, but what Durei said next, made your decision final and made it concrete.

"Besides, what has this village ever done for you? We have always provided a home for you and cared for you and-" he argued. "No! You're wrong," you said angrily, holding back a growl. "You may have provided me with food and shelter and made me one of your own, but there is one thing that they have done that none of you ever did, even though you acted as my father, they showed me love, caring and understanding! They support me in every way possible! That's it. Tell Larza I refuse to bring Kakashi to him!" you shouted as you rose from your chair. "Tell him to do it himself," you said. "But, Xorias," he argued. "No, Durei. I am truly sorry, but I cannot do it," you said, the anger gone from your voice. "Are you sure? This could prove to be an awful mistake!" he yelled. "Please, don't defy the Council!" he pleaded. "Durei, please, don't. You are making this hard on me. Now go. Naruto will be back soon. I can't be responsible for what happens if he comes back and sees you here," you explained. Without saying another word, Durei left, with a horrid look on his face. Your conscience cleared, you decided to go to bed.

You woke the next morning, happy and optimistic. You went out for the daily training, and practicing Chidori as well. Even as much as you practiced, you still couldn't master it all the way. After you solved one problem, another arose in its place. They kept popping up like cockroaches. Cockroaches that you couldn't kill. But you were almost there. But there was just one more thing missing, you didn't what it was. So after training, you decided to go to the ramen shop. As you were eating your ramen, you decided to continue reading Make Out Paradise. As you pulled the book from your pouch, someone grabbed you from behind. "Ah, what are you doing? That's perverted you know!' she said.

You put the book down and turned to see Sakura, holding you in a death grip. "Doesn't mean I can't read it. Besides, what can you do about it?" you asked. "Well, in case you forgot, I smash walls down, imagine what I could do to your head. On the other hand, your head is harder than stone. I could try and find out if you prefer?" she retorted. You laughed admitting defeat. "Fine," you said as you put the book back in your pouch. "Mind if I join you?" she asked. "No not all, sit," you replied as you beckoned her to sit in the seat next to you. "One more bowl please, Ayame," you requested. "Yes," she replied. "You seem cheery today," she deduced. "Yeah, so many good things have happened," you explained. She let it be. She didn't want to intrude on your thoughts. The two of you ate, chatting about the days events. At one point Sakura's mother dropped by. "Hello, Sakura, I didn't think I'd find you here," she said. "Oh, this must be Xorias," she concluded. "Sakura has told me all about you," she finished. "Oh, really," you said turning to Sakura. All she did was shrug her shoulders. "Well, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone," she said turning around and walking away. "Mrs. Haruno! Mother" You and Sakura yelled, nearly choking on your food. "I'm sorry about that. She can be intrusive sometimes," you both laughed and finished eating.

Another day passed. And there were two days left until the ambush was to take place. Though that part of your mind didn't care anymore about that. You spent the day with Sakura again. This time at the shopping center, as Christmas time was nearing. The both of you were getting gifts for many of your friends. You bought Naruto and Hinata a set of passes the to the Desert Spa in the Sand Village, which was always warm, even in winter. And as a practical joke, also included a box of condoms, just for laughs. You bought Kakashi reserve tickets for the Make Out Paradise movie. And various assorted gifts for many others in Konoha. You had decided on getting Sakura a beautiful pink kimono with sakura buds on them. You knew she'd love it. After the day had ended, you went home and started to wrap the presents, as Christmas was only a few weeks away. Dark was fast approaching. You were about to start decorating the tree with Naruto and Hinata when Sakura's mother burst into the door, not even stopping to catch her breath.

"Everyone, Sakura has been kidnapped!"

Another cliffy. Sorry, I had to end it here, otherwise I wouldn't get to post until Sunday. This is my first FF, please review. I need to know what I can do better or what I am doing well in. Thanks. I apologize for the late update. I planned to update on Thursday, but after school, my friends literally dragged me to their house to play Halo. So on Friday, I went to post it at school, but my school doesn't have .wps extensions, so I couldn't upload at school. When I went home after school, my dad's laptop, was connected to the internet modem, cutting off the main computer's access. And to make a long story short, my dad thinks every website is out to get us. So, sorry for the late update.

**Interactive Discussion:**

Who do you think kidnapped Sakura? Why?


	4. Kidnapped!

**Never Surrender**

**This is my first fanfiction, please read and review! **

_Chapter 4, here it is, enjoy!_

"Sakura had been kidnapped?!" you yelled in bewilderment. "You can't be serious!" Naruto screamed. "Not Sakura…" Hinata said. "What happened? Who did it? When? Give me all the details," you commanded. "Well, I was at home in the kitchen preparing for dinner, when Sakura came home. She was happy and in a good mood. She had just gotten back from shopping with you for Christmas. She told me that she needed to go change. She went to her room and when I heard her scream. I ran to her room, just to see to two men grabbing her!" she explained as Kakashi had just walked into the room. "What did they look like?" you asked, dreading and knowing what the answer would be.

"They were two men dressed in black cloaks with hoods that covered their face. They had tassels that hung from about the neck. One of them looked at me and said, 'This is what happens when you defy us. You have one day.' I was horrified. I knew you had spent the day with her and are close friends, so I came to you first. I thought you might know what is going on," she said trying to catch her breath. "Damnit!" you shouted as you slammed your fist against the wall. Kakashi walked up the stairs. "Maybe there is something upstairs that can give us a clue as to why she was kidnapped," he said as he reached the top of the stairs. _Oh no! I forgot! The note. I didn't throw it out! _

_Maybe he won't find it. _"Mrs. Haruno, I will get your daughter back. I swear on my life," you said as you clenched your fist resting at your side. "Thank you," she replied. "I need to think. I need more information, I-" you started lying when you were interrupted. "Don't lie to us Xorias," he stated. "What are you talking about Kakashi?" Naruto asked. "Why don't you ask the spy here," he retorted pointing at you. There was an awkward silence. Kakashi continued, "Fine. Then look at this," he said as he unfolded a sheet of paper. "Kakashi, what is that?" Hinata asked. He said nothing, pointed at you. You couldn't hide it anymore. You had to tell the truth. "It is a writ… for Kakashi's capture,"

"What?!" Naruto screamed nearly cracking his windows. "You were conspiring all along against Kakashi?!" he continued yelling at you. "You piece of shit! How dare you!" he yelled as he punched you in the face, knocking you from your feet. "Because of you, my best friend has been kidnapped! Do you have any idea what you have done?!" he screamed your ears out. You got back up, wiping the blood from your mouth. "Explain yourself Xorias Odamori," Kakashi ordered.

"A few months ago, I was ordered to investigate Konoha. I was told that an ex-member of the Council of Lorii was somewhere in Konoha. They left me in the dark about the details. So I wasn't sure what the purpose was. I got to know each of you. You were amazing people. I didn't want anything to hurt you. I hadn't had a family in so long, I had almost forgotten what it was like. But you made me remember what it was like. Then my father figure gave me the rest if the details; the writ that Kakashi found. I was torn in two. My loyalty to the Council, or the loyalty to my friends. I had two weeks to bring Kakashi in. but I couldn't take down the copy ninja down myself. So I went to the council in the middle of the night and I recruited the help of two other members. I almost didn't make it back before the others woke up that morning, except-"

"…Me…" Kakashi concluded. "Exactly. When you saw me that morning, I wasn't back from training. I had just gotten back from a hearing. For the next week and a half, I was torn between my two choices. As my relationship grew with you and Sakura, I had shied away from helping them. Then, three days from the ambush at the base, Durei, my father figure, made a visit to remind me of the time and place. He insulted the village and you guys. I had at that point decided to help you and not bring Kakashi in. So when Mrs. Haruno told me she had been kidnapped, I knew it was them. They were getting even for disobeying," you explained. "So, we need to get her back," Hinata claimed. "Exactly, so I need to prepare and-" you said before you were interrupted. "No, no, no, no. You aren't going anywhere. After what you pulled, why in the hell should we trust you, you bastard?" Naruto asked. "Because… I am the only one who knows the Council inside and out,"

"He has a point, Naruto," Kakashi said. Naruto suppressed a growl. "I know you want to smash my face in, but you have to trust me if we are going to save Sakura," you argued. "Trust, you?" he laughed. "You wanted to apprehend Kakashi and betray us, now you want to help us? I may be an idiot, but when it comes to betrayal, you cannot fool me!" he yelled. "What guarantee can you give us that you aren't just lying now?" he asked. "I can't. But I will tell you this. If you care for Sakura as much as I do, then you will trust me," you argued. "Fine. But don't think for a second that you have earned a pardon from my distrust. I am only doing this because I don't want to see Sakura hurt," he reasoned. "Good, that's what I want to hear," you replied. You brought the ninja to the table in the living room.

"Here's how the rescue is going to work," you started. "Here is Konoha," you said as you pointed to it on a map. The new base is here," you continued pointing the respective location. "It is approximately two hours away. Sneaking into the base would be difficult. But this time is different. They kidnapped Sakura because they knew I would be tempted to bring Kakashi in, in exchange for Sakura," you reasoned. "Getting in will be the easy part. Getting out will be the hard part," you explained. "The Council still thinks that I will bring in Kakashi. That is where we use that against them," you said. "They claim that they need Kakashi to find the location of the secret scrolls to help defeat the Sound village and Orochimaru. But something tells me that is not what they are doing this for," you said. Kakashi spoke next. "They never had very many honorable intentions when I was a member. That's why I left,"

You explained the rest of the plan, detail after detail. The part everyone was to play, and what have you. "You think that this plan is going to work?" Kakashi asked. "Well first of all. These guys don't have ninjutsu. They have been left out of the loop in the ninja world," you said. "But they might see this coming," Hinata said as Naruto nodded his head, agreeing with his girlfriend. "Well, I never exactly accredited the Council with an over-abundance of brains," you retorted. "I hope this works," Hinata said. "For your sake, Xorias, it better," Naruto threatened.

You left the house to find the ninja required for the plan to work. You had all the ones you needed, except one. You wanted Neji to be there. After much debate from Kakashi, Neji agreed to be apart of the rescue effort. You had everyone gathered. You waited at the gates of Konoha, as they opened up. "Kakashi, Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, and Ino," you recited. "Larza, you shall rue the day you took Sakura from this village. Here we come,"

You and the rest of the ninja darted out of the village, you in front as the gates finished opening. You rushed down the road towards the base. "Alright, stay in formation!" Shikamaru yelled. You saw trees rushing by as you darted past them. Naruto looked at you, with both concern and anger. And as you looked to your left, and said to Neji, "When we get within a half an hour of the base, I want you to activate your Byakugan. You will be able to see anybody near us. They will be expecting us, don't let your guard down." Everyone nodded their heads. You must have ran non stop the entire trip, yet no one complained about needing to rest. They knew Sakura's life was in danger, there was no time to rest. But you knew they needed to rest just for a little bit. "We will stop here, just for a few minutes. "But Sakura is in danger!" Naruto protested. "Yes, but, marching into the Council's base fatigued, does us no favors. "Fine," he replied seeing the logic in your words.

"Kakashi, come here please," you requested. He walked up to you. "You were a member of the Council. When did you decide to leave?" you asked. "I left eight years ago," he replied. "But weren't you with the village then?" "I did both," he responded. "I left because of what they had planned to do. I had scrolls to use against the Sound Village. I hid them because they might have used them to carry out their plans," Kakashi explained. "Wait a minute. Eight years?" "Yes." "Did they say what they were going to do?" you asked maybe knowing what The Council was doing before Kakashi left. "They said they were going to aid, Itachi Uchiha and Madara Uchiha in destroying the Uchiha clan. I should have stood up to them, but I didn't," he said with sadness in his voice. "Now you have a chance to make up for it," you said. You thought at that point you knew what happened. But you needed more information from the Council. "Time to go!" you shouted as you rose from where you were sitting. Everyone complied and started running again.

Neji, nearing the base, activated his Byakugan. "We're almost there!" you yelled as everyone perked their heads toward you. As you got closer and closer to the base, you became more weary. "Alright everyone in positions. Were a few miles from the base. Neji, Ino, go to your places!" Shikamaru, Kakashi you know what to do!" you ordered getting everyone in position for the plan. Ino and Neji broke off, but as they did, Neji said, "We'll be waiting. There's only two of them outside the base. They must be waiting inside. I can't see that far in," he explained. "Alright, if we fail to infiltrate quietly, you need to come in," you said. "Yes," Ino replied. "Neji and Ino darted off the main group. Durei and Fokuske had no idea what was about to happen.

(A/N: Just imagine the following scene with Orochimaru's theme playing)

"Let me go!" Sakura screamed as she tried to break free of her chains. Larza just stood there, silent. "Do you have any idea who you are messing with?" Sakura argued. "You are messing with the Leaf Village! When they find out what happened to me, they will be all over you. And you know what, Xorias is coming after me. You will be in deep shit when he gets here! Do you understand?!" She yelled at Larza. "That was the whole plan, you impudent wench!" he retorted. "Wha-" she said confused. "That's right, we took you on purpose. We chose to kidnap you because I have been watching you the last few months on how you acted around my Council member," he explained. "X-Xorias is a member of this Council?" she asked in astonishment.

"Yes, that's correct," he responded. "I sent him in as a spy. But when he was ordered to bring Kakashi in, who mind you was also a member of the Council, after he had spent enough time around you and developed feelings, he declined. We knew to pick you. That is what we are counting on. He will come here to rescue you in return give us Kakashi anyway. After he does… heh. We will kill him, as we will have no more use for him," Larza explained. "No. You underestimate him," Sakura argued. "No, we don't. I taught him everything I know. I know all his techniques. He doesn't know any new ones, because Kakashi knew what the outfit looked like or at least, remembered something about it was not right. That is why I sent him in the outfit that I did. He wouldn't trust him enough to teach him any jutsu. He can't win." Sakura suppressed a growl.

"He was to old for us to teach him the way of evil. His parents died when he was ten. He was taught the difference between right and wrong. So we couldn't teach him on values that he was cemented to already. We would be countering our own efforts. That's why we taught him to use any anger he had and channel it into a revenge mentality. Fr example who killed his clan and his family. We got somewhere. The more he is with us, the more evil he becomes, naturally. With the anger of his, the only friends he made were you and Kakashi," he argued. " Our grand plan? I suppose I should tell you. You are going to be killed after we are done with Xorias. We will launch an attack on Konoha with the help of Orochimaru,"

"What do you need Kakashi for?" Sakura asked. "Long ago, when Kakashi left the Council, he also left the location of secret scrolls hidden somewhere. So we are going to force him to tell us where they are," Larza explained. "How do you plan on doing that?" she asked. "We have our ways…" he replied. "However it doesn't matter. You can't escape. You Leaf ninja were always pushovers. You hated conflict. Your village doesn't deserve to remain. That is the whole idea. Orochimaru, his allies, and this Council will attack the Leaf village. With the scrolls we will be unstoppable! You can't prevent this!" he shouted. Sakura was awestruck by the whole idea. Xorias, was a member? She didn't know what to think anymore. Could the others prevent this attack, or will the Konoha she knew be gone, forever? There was only one way to find out, she would have to wait for everyone to arrive. "Xorias, is going to kick your scrawny little ass," Sakura said quietly. "We shall see," he replied calmly.

You and Kakashi walked up to the base entrance. Two guards were at the entrance. You figured it was Durei and Fokuske. "Well, well. Look who we have here," Fokuske said. "It looks like you decided to come to your senses and brought him to us. Though I don't know how you convinced him to come here," Durei said as you approached. "if it is to defeat the Sound, I will do this," Kakashi replied. Durei and Fokuske smirked. They figured he was still believing such lies. "We have orders to take you and Kakashi in, by force if necessary," Fokuske stated. "Now if you- wait. Who is that?" he asked. "A bodyguard of a sort. To make sure the transition goes smoothly," "He is not to enter," "Well, then I must force you to let him pass," you retorted. You raised your hand, signaling Neji and Ino into action. Ino appeared behind them and placed two fingers on each pressure point on their necks forcing them into an unconscious state. "Well then, let's go," Neji said.

You walked up to the rock, bit your right thumb, made the serpent and tiger hand signs, and placed your left hand on the rock. It didn't move.

"What? Why didn't it move?" you asked. Neji spoke up, "It appears there is a hidden seal on the other side of the rock. It is almost invisible to the human eye, but I have my eye technique." He smirked. "It should dissipate with a release jutsu," Kakashi concluded. "Right," you said as you put the two hand signs together. "Kai!" you yelled. There was a nervous silence for a moment or two. Then the rock started to move out of the way of the hole. "Sakura, here we come," you said clenching your fists. You all darted down into the hallway, and the hard part of the rescue mission had just begun.

Not much of a cliffhanger, but I know you get mad when I put in too many of them, so this chapter ending is much less suspenseful. Hope you enjoy. Please review and tell me how I am doing. This is my first fan fiction. I left the actual rescue out of this chapter. Read the interactive discussion for more details. Thanks!

**Interactive Discussion:**

How do you think the rescue mission will go? How do you think it should go? What should happen? Most creative response may be put into story.


	5. Rescue Pt 1

**Never Surrender **

_My first fanficiton. Please read and review._

You walked down the dark hallway. "There aren't very many guards," Neji said looking beyond the walls. You felt yourself shaking as you neared the center room. There weren't any guards in the center room either. "Neji, which hallways should we take?" you asked. He told you five of the eight hallways were dead ends. That left one more room, the hallway behind you that lead outside, and the hallway that lead to the throne room. The newer room was south east of your current position. "Neji, Ino, take the south eastern room. Naruto, guard this room. This needs to be clear when we escape with Sakura. Shikamaru, Kakashi, come with me. We are going to the throne room," you said.

The hallway, leading to the room where Ino and Neji where heading to, never seemed to end. It was as if, it was a genjutsu. The hallway was lightly lit, but it was light enough to see doors and walls. After what seemed like hours, they arrived at the end of the hallway. There were twelve cells. Six to each side of the room. There were about three people to a cell. "Sakura!" Neji yelled. "Billboard brow, you in here?" Ino asked. "Why are you calling out for Sakura?" a mysterious voice rang out behind Neji.

"You shouldn't be doing it. We are ordered to kill anyone asking for her. You must be the rescue team," he continued. "Well, let's put that to rest right now," he said as Neji groaned as the man stabbed him, the blade piercing where his right lung would be. Blood was dripping from the blade as Neji winced in extreme pain. "Neji! No!" Ino yelled. "Now little girl, you're next," he said as he pulled the blade out of Neji. But the man whipped around as he heard Neji say, "Don't ever underestimate a Leaf shinobi." Neji all of a sudden disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and re-appeared to the man's right.

"What? How did you?" the man muttered to himself. "This fight could have been avoided. But insisted on fighting anyway. Big mistake!" Neji yelled. "Now you shall know the full power of a Leaf ninja!" Ino shouted. Neji and Ino charged at the mysterious attacker. But he nimbly leapt aside. He drew his sword which was about the size of a long sword, but much thicker. It must have weighed a ton. But he swung it around like it was a paperclip. "Careful Ino, don't get hit by this blade," Neji warned. "Right," Ino acknowledged. After minutes of dodging, the attacker made an interesting move. His blade started glowing yellow, as if the chakra was leaving the blade. "Take this you Leaf village punks! **Ninja Art; Blade Scar**!"

"What kind of chakra is this? I haven't seen it before," Neji said to himself, as he barely dodged the attack. The man smashed the sword onto the ground, forcing it to crack and sending Neji flying, but doing no damage to him. It was merely the shockwave the knocked him off his feet. Ino however, was not so lucky. The blade struck the ground, and a piece of rock struck her, knocking her unconscious, and throwing her against the wall.

The attacker's blade started up again, this time glowing green. "**Ninja Art; Blade Growth**!" His blade grew exponentially in size. He noticed that when the attacker used a blade technique, his chakra started flowing from only eight points, which spread throughout creating a chain reaction. But the chakra starting point changed every time, so there was only one way to counter that. The attacker placed his hands together and his blade started floating. "Die!" The blade flew at Neji. It was ridiculously long in length. Neji was constantly on the defense. This was his chance to make a move, but he had to wait for the right movement. Neji backed against the wall, as he was avoiding the sword, and the blade hit in his direction, creating a huge barrier of smoke. "I got him," the man said.

He started to walk away when he heard a voice. "I told you not to underestimate us shinobi. I hate to be underestimated," Neji warned as he appeared in front of the man. "Why you little brat!" he screamed as he thrust the sword horizontally attempting and miserably failing to lop off Neji's head. Neji ducked and thrust his palm upwards putting his chakra into his hand and cutting off a chakra point. The man stumbled back using his sword to find his balance. He tried to counter by striking his sword upward, but Neji was quicker and was already under the attacker. He placed his arms almost 180 degrees apart from each other. "**8 Trigrams; 64 Points of Divinity!**" The divinity circle appeared from Neji's view. He spun towards his attacker, struck him twice, "Two palms," he spun the opposite direction and struck his chakra points, "Four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty-two palms, Eight Trigrams sixty-four palms!" Neji yelled as he finished his last strike, the attacker being flown off his feet. He was on the floor writhing and grabbing his side.

Neji stared at the man. "When you take a friend from the village, and then underestimate the will and the strength of the ninja from that village, you will be in for the surprise of your life," Neji explained. He struggled to get up, but did so. Panting heavily from Neji's last attack, he lifted his sword. "I don't who you are, but this isn't over!" he shouted as his blade started to glow a purple color. "Purple?" Neji said to himself. "**Ninja Art; Blade Poison**!" he shouted. "Poison?!" Neji said confused.

"If I get hit by the blade at this point, it will kill me," Neji said to himself. The attacker sliced vertically, missing Neji, by merely inches. The man flicked his wrists and moved the blade around his head and swung. Neji couldn't avoid it. There was a loud clang. His blade couldn't reach Neji. There was a kunai between him and the sword. The attacker pushed with all his might. But Neji wouldn't budge. The man snickered. Neji noticed someone was behind him. He charged at Neji. "A shadow clone!" Neji shouted as he released the weapons lock and leapt aside forcing the momentum of the attacker's blade to hit his shadow clone. It disappeared. The man swung to his right with lightning speed barely missing Neji. The Hyuuga was constantly on the defense, able to get in a strike on the occasion, but he would be hit eventually.

"You're good, I'll give you that much," he stated. "I intend to win, not just to be a good fighter," Neji replied. "However, I still have a trick up my sleeve," the man retorted. "Who are you?" "My name is Yuki, and I will be the last person you see," he said confidently. He started emanating a large amount of chakra. Much more than before. His blade started to grow blue. And the blade started replicating itself. Soon there were about twenty blades. "No hand signs? Nothing?" Neji asked astonished. "Die!" Yuki screamed. He closed his fist and the blades descended upon Neji.

"I have you now, leaf brat! Take this!" Yuki screamed. "The swords were almost upon Neji. "Not this time. **8 Trigrams; Palm Rotation**!" Neji started to form a blue half of a sphere and began rotating at a ridiculous speed. The swords would hit the rotating chakra and bounce off, then fall of the floor. "What?!" Yuki shouted. "How could he…" The attack subsided and Neji ceased his spinning. "I will tell you a third time, do not underestimate us Leaf ninja," Neji retorted.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Yuki explained. "I merely drew you here to get you away from Xorias. Now that I have two away from him, he doesn't stand a chance against our leader," he continued. "This rescue will fail, Hyuuga. He should have just stopped and let us go on peacefully," "Peacefully?" Neji interrupted. "You kidnapped a friend of mine, and of Xorias as well. And you think that we will just let you go peacefully into the night?! You are horribly mistaken!" Neji yelled as he charged at Yuki.

Yuki smirked and he drew his sword again. He swung at Neji who ducked, and thrust his palm at another chakra point, causing Yuki to stumble a little before regaining his footing. Neji thrust again at another point this time, but Yuki was quicker, as he leapt out of the way, and took a swipe at Neji. Neji ducked and swept his left leg forcing Yuki to the ground. Yuki executed a back flip away from Neji. He stabbed his sword down at Neji who rolled out of the way. He stabbed down again, narrowly missing Neji as he knocked the blade away with a kunai.

Neji leapt up throwing his kunai at Yuki. He knocked it off in another direction and charged at the Hyuuga ninja. This time pulling his blades apart and forming two blades. He swung wildly with one sword barely missing Neji as it was blocked. But the second sword came around Neji side and clipped his arm. Neji leapt back, panting. Yuki wasn't going to let up. He ran at Neji swinging in circles. He was too fast for Neji as he took another hit near the thigh. And another on the shoulder, but luckily only scratching the surface. But it was still taking its toll.

"I can see you are struggling," Yuki taunted. Neji just laughed slightly to himself. "but I will end this now!" he retorted. Yuki's blade started glowing again. This time with all of the colors combined. The blades grew longer, multiplied, and all his abilities were combined. "What?" Neji said out loud. "That's right! This is the end for you!" he shouted. Yuki closed his hands and the poisonous, powerful blades flew at Neji.

"No, I will not give up. **8 Trigrams; Giant Palm Rotation**!" Neji's chakra shields were rotating faster, and the area was much wider. But the blades were stronger than the shield and slowly started to break through the barrier. Blades started clipping Neji left and right and one point one blade flew right into Neji's side. The rotation died off. "Ha, not even a larger rotation could stop my secret attack." Neji pulled the sword out and grabbed his side. He staggered. "_The poison works fast, I must finish this quickly. But I can barely move,"_ Neji thought. Yuki walked towards Neji. "This will finish this now," Yuki said. He lifted his blade. "_This is where it ends I suppose. Sorry Xorias, I won't be joining you,"_

"Take this-" Yuki stopped the blade, as he quieted down. Neji through his heavy panting uttered, "What? How di…?" "Sorry about all that Neji," he heard a voice. "I-Ino?" he asked. He turned his head to see Ino in her stance for the mind transfer jutsu, as she dropped to her knees, at the other side of the room. Ino, or Yuki rather put her hands together, and placed them on his wounds (A/N: In this story Ino has the ability to use her jutsu even when in someone else's body). "I can't heal the wounds fast, but I can get the poison. It seems to be a simple poison," Ino said as she finished her healing jutsu. Neji was now able to move. "When I leave this body, finish him, Neji," she explained. "Right," Neji said as he staggered to his feet.

(A/N: For maximum enjoyment, go to Youtube and listen to Naruto battle Music)"**8 Trigrams; 128 Palms**!" he said. "Now!" she shouted. Yuki gained control again. "Why you little p-" he said. He was cut short. Neji spun towards him, using his barrage of the gentle fist and was cutting off his chakra points. Yuki was in pain, as his chakra started to disappear, as Neji finished his attacks. "Eight Trigrams, 128 palms!" he yelled as Yuki was thrown off his feet. "128!?" he shouted. He staggered to is feet. "Now, this ends for real!" Neji shouted at Yuki. He charged at him. "**Eight Trigrams; Hyuuga Style Secret Technique; Eight Gates Assault**!" Yuki screamed in pain as all of his chakra points were cut off. He fell to the ground, his breath becoming short. Ino walked up to him picked up his sword, and thrust down, killing Yuki, instantly.

"We did it," Ino said. "It's over," he added. Neji grabbed his side and fell to his knees. "_He's badly injured. I need to heal him further," _Ino thought.

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(A/N: Orochimaru's Theme) You ran, Kakashi and Shikamaru ran into where the throne room is. "Well, well. How did I know that you would come here? You should have just done what I said. But now you had to make me kidnap her," Larza said as he pointed to a dark corner, where a barely visible Sakura was chained to the wall. "Sakura!" you shouted at her. "Sakura!" She awoke groggily, hearing her name being called. "X-Xorias!" she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Thank god you're here!" she continued. "Before we have this reunion, we must discuss terms of agreement," Larza explained. "Yes," you merely said. "Good, I knew you would see it my way."

"Kakashi, so nice of you to join us. Welcome home," Larza said, as ten more Council members appeared behind him. "I'm sorry Kakashi," you said. "I know, Xorias," he replied. "I must, if it is for the good of the Leaf Village…" Kakashi continued. "Good," Larza said. As he beckoned Kakashi towards him. He walked to the Council leader. They moved him to the back of the group. "Now, Sakura. As promised," you ordered. "Of course," he said. They unlocked the binding on Sakura's wrist and pushed her off the walls and into your arms. She started crying. "Xorias… it's, it's a trap."

You whipped your head around and looked at Larza. "She speaks the truth young one," Larza said approaching you. "Now all three of you will die, after we search Kakashi's mind for the location of the scrolls," he explained as one of the Council members put his hand signs together and placed them on Kakashi's head. After a few minutes, he stated, "The information is not here! I can't find it!" "What?!" Larza screamed. Just then, Fokuske walked through the hallway, blocking your only way out. Sakura turned her head to you, tears still streaming down her face. You placed your head next to her ears and whispered. "It's going to be okay."

"Shikamaru, let's go! Now! Run!" You, Sakura, and Shikamaru darted past Fokuske. The interrogator of Kakashi's mind and Larza got up from where they were. "You aren't going anywhere!" Larza shouted. As he and the others started to run after you. But they were stopped in their tracks. You and the others stopped running, and turned around. "Nicely done Shikamaru."

"But, Shikamaru is right here, he didn't do anything," Sakura argued. "Really?" you replied. You pointed to where Kakashi was in the other room. A cloud of smoke appeared and as the smoke cleared you saw Shikamaru standing there having captured all the Council members in the room including Fokuske. "What?" she said in astonishment. "But if that's Shikamaru… then who is…" The figure was all of a sudden clouded in a puff of smoke and when it cleared, Kakashi was standing there. "Of course…" Sakura finally understood. "I had Kakashi and Shikamaru and Kakashi become clones of each other. I had to get Shikamaru behind the members, so that when we had you and made a run for it, he would capture them all with his shadow possession jutsu. "Damnit!" Larza said. Shikamaru walked towards you, his jutsu still in effect. "Wait, something's wrong," Shikamaru said. If there are ten members here, where are the others. Right as Shikamaru said that, someone from out of nowhere, grabbed Sakura and headed for the exit.

Shikamaru released the jutsu and everyone followed Sakura, but strangely enough, they didn't follow you. But Larza disappeared in a cloud of smoke. You followed the figure out the entrance of the throne room. He went straight through to the main hallway leading to the exit. "Where is Naruto?!" you said. You were shortly joined by Ino and Neji at the main room as you were leaving. The figure escaped through the exit. But you were hot on his trail. He started getting farther away though. But as he went under a branch under a large tree, he was swept back and knocked from his feet. "Sorry, I'm late."

It was Naruto! He had anticipated this would happen and was waiting the whole time. Still holding Sakura however, the man got up. He took off his hood, revealing Durei. "But how did you?" you asked. "It was a clone. I'm no idiot," he replied. "I swear. I will kill you," you said holding back a growl. "Is that anyway to treat a superior?" he said. "Even after what we did to you, we decided to take you in, and this is how you treat us?" he continued. "Wait, what did you say?" you asked. "Don't you want to here how your clan was destroyed?" he replied." You dropped the kunai knife in your hand.

"As I thought. Do you know how your clan was killed off? You were a branch of the main clan. You were loosely connected to it. When we heard, two people were planning to destroy the entire clan, we couldn't refuse. Your clan had always been troublesome, They posed a huge threat to us, so we decided to help wipe them out. The clan of power, the clan of history……The Uchiha Clan."

You were taken aback by the words. "Uchiha?!" Sakura gasped. Everyone was as equally shocked. "That's right. We destroyed your clan. I was the one who slaughtered your parents. Of course I was hooded so you couldn't see me. And the two clansmen that were plotting against their own, were-" he was interrupted. "Itachi and Madara…" Kakashi conjectured. "Right, Kakashi," he replied with an evil grin on his face. You clenched your fist. "Don't get angry, you pledged your service to us, for taking you in. You belong to me!" he shouted.

"You will join me, Xorias or Sakura will die at my hands," he threatened as you looked down at the ground.

"You took away, my clan. You took away my family. You took away my life. And now you are going to take her away from me? You have caused me so much pain for the last eight years! You have done everything you could to destroy my identity to which you control. You were a father to me, and I trusted you! I was given a chance at a new life, and you want to take all that away from me?!" You yelled getting louder and louder and you closed your eyes. "I will never forgive you! You will not live to see another day, Durei! You will pay for what you have done to me and my friends!!!" You screamed at the top of your lungs as you re-opened your eyes. Durei, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, Ino, and Sakura all stared at what they saw. (A/N: Naruto Battle Theme)

"No way!"

"How can this be?"

"This is impossible! There's no way!" Durei said in absolute astonishment, as he stared at you.

Cliffhanger, Part one. Part two should be up within the next few days. Sorry this is a little later than I had hoped. I had a speech and debate competition this weekend, and I had to finish typing the story today. I enjoyed writing the fight with Neji and Yuki. As always, this is my first fan fiction. Please review.

**Interactive Discussion:**

What do you think everyone has witnessed?


	6. Rescue Pt 2

**Never Surrender **

_My first fanficiton. Please read and review. **May be discontinued unless input is given in a poll at end.**_

Flashback:

"_I will never forgive you! You will not live to see another day, Durei! You will pay for what you have done to me and my friends!!!" You screamed at the top of your lungs as you re-opened your eyes. Durei, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, Ino, and Sakura all stared at what they saw. _

"_No way!"_

"_How can this be?"_

"_This is impossible! There's no way!" Durei said in absolute astonishment, as he stared at you._

End Flashback.

"It is," Kakashi said. "It's the Sharingan…"

"What?!" Naruto shouted, nearly piercing Kakashi's ears. "Even though he is from a lesser branch of the Uchiha clan, he is an Uchiha nonetheless," Kakashi explained. "I still can't believe that he already has the three wheels. That can't be possible," Sakura said, wide eyed.

"Sharingan or not, I will defeat you Xorias," Durei stated, as he drew his sword and threw Sakura to the ground. "_I have the Sharingan?"_ you thought. "I taught you all the sword techniques. Defeating me will be impossible," he finished. He lunged at you, and you responded by simply twisting your body and counterattacking. He blocked as he went by, losing his balance in the process. You leapt to the side and pulled out a kunai and tossed it at him. He couldn't block it and it hit his left arm. Though he didn't seem to be phased, as he leapt back to his feet, pulled out the kunai and charged again.

He thrust towards you. You used one sword to move it out of the way and turned your body gaining momentum for your next swing, and whipped your hand around and missed him by inches as he jumped backwards. You leapt in the air and flew down. He turned and struck at you as you came down, but kicked the sword away. You rolled into the fall and swung your swords as you came up, making two small nicks on his right leg. He staggered backwards.

He smirked as he picked his sword up from the ground. You didn't know what everyone was appalled by yet but it must have been good as you knew someone was behind you and flipped backwards over the attacker and then lunging at him and stabbing one of your swords into the man's chest from behind.

You noticed the rest of the Council members gathering behind you ready to attack you or your friends. Kakashi and the others got behind you in a line to make sure they couldn't get to you. "We'll hold them off. This is your fight with Durei, not their's," he said. You nodded. You and Durei fought for what seemed like hours, when in reality was only minutes. But you were quickly gaining the edge in the fight because of the Sharingan.

Durei, cut in various places, sheathed his sword. "What is he doing?" Sakura asked still grabbing her side, on the ground. "Let's end this quickly. It is clear that with the Sharingan, I cannot beat you at hand to hand fighting. I was wrong about that, but I will not be wrong about ninjutsu!' he shouted. He placed his hands together and started making hand signs. "**Earth Style: Pri**-" he said but was interrupted. "**son Jutsu**!" you finished. You realized with the "Sharingan" you could read people's minds and read their attacks and counter before they get to do anything. All of a sudden, a mound of earth came out of the ground and tried to encompass Durei. But he dodged it by jumping to the side and collapsing on the ground.

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Kakashi laughed. "Two can play at this game Xorias," he said as he lifted the headband from his left eye revealing a Sharingan of his own. The man facing Kakashi was Larza. "Well, Kakashi. It seems as though this will be the final battle," he said. "Your senses may be sharper, but you haven't fought me before. This will be interesting," he said he raised his voice at the end of his statement, as he threw mix of shuriken and kunai at Kakashi.

Kakashi leapt to the side and threw two kunai. One missed and hit a tree. The other grazed Larza's arm, which flew into separate tree. Kakashi leapt towards the tree and grabbed the kunai, nearly getting hit in the process by more shuriken. He stuck the bloody one in his pouch.

He charged at Kakashi kicking up but having the attack blocked by the copy ninja. Kakashi grabbed Larza and attempted to throw him, but Larza countered by leaping back at Kakashi as he rebounded off the tree, sending Kakashi back ten feet or so.

Kakashi leapt up from his spot and charged at Larza. The Council leader merely twisted his body to avoid Kakashi's fist. He grabbed Kakashi's hand and turned Kakashi's body so that Larza could get a hold of both of Kakashi's hands. He flipped over Kakashi's back, moving the copy ninja's arms in position much like Sasuke's position against Zaku in the Forest of Death. He smirked. "What?" Kakashi said in alarm. Kakashi was helpless. "What you did was foolish, and that charge at me will cost you your arms!" he screamed as he placed his foot against Kakashi's back and pulling on his arms. Then in an instant your heard Kakashi's arms snap like a twig as he screamed in pain. Larza let go of him, and let him fall to the ground. He then took a kunai and threw it into Kakashi's back. You had turned when Kakashi shouted to see him fall to the ground. "Kakashi, no!" you shouted as you turned your head. Durei saw an advantage and kicked you sending you flying into a tree close to Sakura. "Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled.

Larza just laughed as he bent his knees and went to the ground to look at Kakashi. "Even after eight years, you are still as impatient and hot-tempered as always, and that was your downfall sensei. Now I will search your mind for the location of the sacred scrolls." he said as Kakashi was losing consciousness. "Kakashi was Larza's sensei?" Sakura said to herself. He placed his hands over Kakashi's head and his hands glowed yellow. The process only took about fifteen seconds. "Good I got it. Now this ends. I told you this would be the final confrontation between master and apprentice. He pulled the kunai out of Kakashi's back and stabbed it into his heart.

Sakura was horrified at what she just witnessed. Larza rolled Kakashi's dead body over and just stared at his old master. He ran his eyes up and down and noticed that Kakashi's face had a serene look to it. Then he figured that since Kakashi was dead, he would see what was under that damn mask. He had wanted to know for over a decade. As he pulled the mask down, he saw a small piece of paper, large enough to cover the area around the mouth. Larza stared horrified. "An exploding tag?!" There was a loud boom, as Kakashi's body was ripped to shreds by the explosion.

The dust cleared revealing a body standing a few yards from where Kakashi was lying before the explosion. It was Larza. Scratched and cut, he stood panting. He laughed. 'So you had one more trick up your sleeve," he said, "I will admit. You always had something up your sleeve. What a way to go out with a bang," he finished.

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Shikamaru was thinking of a plan to get everyone out safely, all while fighting a Council member. "I may be a novice, but I won't lose to you. We are going to win. The Divine Right is on our side," he said. Shikamaru just rubbed the back of his head, "Oh man, what a drag. Naruto, I would like your help." "Right," Naruto said. "I'll hit him with" the Shadow Possession Jutsu, then you finish him off with the Rasengan. Got it?" "Yeah, I got it…" Naruto said. "Now!" Shikamaru yelled. But as he said that, the novice disappeared. "What? Where did he go?" Naruto said. "Naruto! Behind you!" Shikamaru yelled as Naruto was sent flying. "He doesn't disappear, he's just too fast for the mortal eye to see. He seems to attack from behind." he deduced. Shikamaru was then kicked and he flew about ten feet then was kicked again and again. It was like a triangle of attack. Like a three seals bouncing a beach ball in between them. Finally when there was a break in the attack. He hatched a plan.

He ran to Naruto told him the plan as quick as possible. Then right as the member of the Council was about to attack Shikamaru threw a smoke bomb towards the ground creating a pillar of smoke. "You think running will help?" the man asked. "Who said anything about running?" Naruto said as a handful of kunai were thrown in random directions hitting bushes left and right, missing the man by a mile with every single kunai. "You have terrible aim," he said. Shikamaru leapt from the smoke and charged at the man, getting kicked aside, not even having the man use his speed. The Councilman disappeared again. Shikamaru started listening, listening, listening. There! Shikamaru heard rustling. The man appeared behind Shikamaru and was about to kick him, when he was stopped in his tracks.

"What? The shadow possession? But how? I saw you right there…" "That's the point…" the man heard a voice. It was Shikamaru, but it wasn't coming from in front of him but behind him! The one in front of the Council member turned around and there was a puff of smoke revealing Naruto. "I can't believe it. You fell for it once… but twice?" he said as he walked out from the shadows of the trees, revealing the real Shikamaru. "But how?"

"Simple. We used the smoke cover to change into each other. Then when you saw the kunai come out of the smoke. We missed you because we weren't aiming at you. We hit the bushes on purpose. Hitting the bushes knocked some of the leaves from each of the bushes. Then when I, or Naruto really, ran out, he stirred up some of the leaves pushing them all over the area. I had realized that you attack from behind. And besides, neither of us could see you. But we could hear you," Shikamaru explained. "The leaves…" he said. "Exactly. We used the leaves to judge your position. Then when I knew where you were. I nabbed you in my shadow possession jutsu," Shikamaru finished.

"Now Naruto," Shikamaru ordered. "Right," Naruto replied. Naruto made a clone and he started to form the Rasengan. A ball formed in his hand and he thrust it into the attacker. The man screamed in agony as his insides were literally turned inside-out. And the man flew back about a hundred feet.

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Larza panting from his close encounter with the explosion, nearly causing his death, turned to you and your fight. He started walking to you. "Xorias, he coming after you!" Sakura screamed. He started to run at you. Suddenly he was stopped in his tracks, by a kunai at the throat. "I told you. This fight is not yours…" "Kakashi!" Sakura yelled. You turned your head to see him holding back Larza at knife point near the throat. Larza was dumbfounded. "How are you still alive?" he asked. "You underestimate me," he replied. Larza knocked the knife away and jumped away, ready to fight Kakashi again.

Larza put his hands together and said, "**Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu**." A very thick mist encased the general area. You and Durei couldn't see anything.

Flashback:

"_**Ninja Art; Hidden Mist Jutsu**__," Zabuza said. "The mist is so thick, I can't see a thing,"_ _Sakura mumbled to herself, turning her head in an attempt to locate Kakashi. _

_Kakashi pricked his thumb and took out a scroll, spreading the blood out on the scroll's contents. _

End Flashback

"A mist, huh?" Kakashi said. "You can't use your Sharingan if you can't see me," Larza stated confidently from somewhere in the mist. Kakashi was prepared. He pricked his thumb and took out a scroll. He took the bloody kunai knife and threw it onto the groud. He opened the lock on it and spread the blood across the various lengths and markings on the scrolls. "**Summoning Earth Style; Fang Pursuit Jutsu**," Kakashi said out loud. There was a pillar of smoke and then there were various dogs sitting in a line. They sniffed around and then disappeared as they went to find their target.

Less that a minute passed when Kakashi heard someone shouting. It was Larza. As the mist cleared, you could see two figures. Kakashi and the other with large lumps covering his body. Then you could see Larza bleeding as you saw dogs latched to him. Kakashi walked up to him. "Bu…but h-how?" Larza asked gritting his teeth and enduring the pain. "Do you still not understand? I prepare for everything. So when I threw the kunai at you I needed one to hit you, and get your blood on it. I have to disagree when you said we have never fought. It is true to an extent. But I have seen some of your techniques. I have the Sharingan remember?" Larza said nothing. "I figured you would use something like that. You were right. I can't use the Sharingan if I can't see you. However, I didn't use my eyes. I used my hounds," he continued." "But how could the hounds find me with… no…scent?" he trailed off as it hit him. "The blood," Larza concluded.

"Clever Kakashi. Clever," he congratulated him. Kakashi just stood there staring at him. "Well, now that I won't fall for that again, let's start over," he stated smirking. Kakashi cocked his head to the side a little bit, but was taken aback when Larza disappeared. And even more so when he felt the tip of a kunai behind his back. "You really have improved, but you forget that I was your sensei. I knew my weaknesses before you did. Then all of a sudden, Larza felt a hand grab his right foot. "**Earth Style; Head Hunter Jutsu**!" he shouted as he started to pull Larza under the ground. He dragged him down until only his head was visible.

Kakashi kneeled down and told Larza, "If you ever try to pull this again, I will kill you. But for know watch my student, fight for his real friends and family. The family that you never gave him. The rest of the Council members started to run off, thanks to the efforts of Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji and Ino. Kakashi went over to Sakura, helped her up and walked with her in a place where she could better rest and away from the fight. "No, Kakashi. I need to be here for Xorias," she argued as Kakashi stopped and let her sit.

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You were amazed by the power of the Sharingan. You could see attacks before they came, and you were much stronger than before. To think that you were an Uchiha…

Durei just couldn't match the Sharingan. Especially three wheels. This had dragged on long enough. You had to use "that" move.

Flashback:

"_This jutsu will be very difficult to do without the Sharingan…" Kakashi said. _

As you started making the hand signs for the jutsu, Kakashi started talking to Sakura. "During the training I had with Xorias, I taught him everything about the Chidori. Everything. The hand signs, the fundamentals, the posture, everything. Except one thing. I couldn't teach him how he would activate it. You must be motivated to use it. I was able to start using Chidori because I wanted to protect the village. Sasuke was able to able to activate it, because he wanted to fight for revenge. Xorias had to find his own way to activate this jutsu," he said as he turned to look down at Sakura. "Do you know what or how Xorias reacted when he heard you were kidnapped?" he asked her. "No. What?" she replied. "He went nuts. He cares for you, Sakura. He was able to complete the jutsu, because of his protective side, he doesn't want anything to happen to you or his friends. She looked down at the ground.

"You took my friends away from me… you took my family, my home, everything! You will pay dearly. You were going to kill her and you still are trying to." you shouted. "You have to catch me first," Durei retorted. As if on cue, there was a clone of you holding Durei in place. You placed your hand near your head. And all of a sudden a burst of lightning bolts appeared out of your hand. And with that you thrust your hand near the ground. "**Chidori**!" you shouted. "You would ruin my life for your own ambition. You would kill my friends for the sake of your own power! You have taken away everything I hold dear! This I cannot allow! Your life ends here!" you screamed nearly killing him from the volume alone. Durei stared, horrified at your chakra. But at that moment, something unexpected happened, that made even the copy ninja himself, drop his jaw. He had never seen it before in his lifetime.

Your chakra changed from blue to orange. You had an orange Chidori! (A/N: If you really want to know how I got this idea of an orange Chidori, just go on google and find a picture of Kakashi and his Chidori, and save it and use a negative effect on it, lol)

"This is impossible!" Durei screamed. You placed your hand to the right side of your body, and began to charge. You yelled in anger as you ran at him. As you were right near him you brought your palm up to his chest and thrust it into his heart, killing him instantly.

You pulled your hand out of him, which was drenched in blood. You wiped it off. You all of a sudden felt cold and collapsed on the ground and fell to your knees. You sat there for what seemed like days. But you seemed to warm up as you felt arms around you. "Thank you! Thank you so much for rescuing me!" Sakura cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. You wanted to respond, but you deactivated your Sharingan, and passed out in her arms from exhaustion.

Kakashi turned to Larza. But he was gone! "Everyone! Larza has escaped!" he said in alarm. "We completed our mission. We rescued Sakura. We need to return to the village," Neji replied.

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You were knocked out cold for the rest of the trip. You woke up about a day later, in the hospital. "Hey, you're finally awake," you heard a voice. It was Naruto. "Where's Sakura?" you asked. "She's here in the hospital. They're treating her for minor injuries. She'll be fine," Naruto explained. "Good," you said relieved.

You looked around the room. There were decorations, and occasional flower or so, a TV and a table in the corner of the room. All that was missing was… "Lunch time!" Shizune said cheerfully bringing on food on a tray for you. "Oh no…" you said, horrified. She placed the meal on a small table over your bed. "Hospital food…" you shuddered. You took a bite, gagging it down. "It's not that bad," Naruto said. "When you're in here as much as I am, you get used to it." "Somewhere out there, some lucky person is getting food poisoning," you said as you ate another bite.

After you finished your meal, you tried to get up, but your body wouldn't move. "Everything you did, really put a strain on your body, Xorias," Naruto said. "Tsunade says you'll be out here in a few days or so. By the way, there is someone here to thank you personally," Naruto continued as Mrs. Haruno walked through the door. "Thank you for saving my daughter, Xorias," she said as she kissed your forehead. "She is lucky to have you as a friend," she finished. "Look, I wasn't the only one, there were others that went with me. Thank them, too," you replied. She chuckled as she left the room.

You heard Sakura's voice, "You have to be modest don't you?" "Sakura!" you said as Naruto pulled back the curtains that divided the room. "Thanks again for saving me," she said as she smiled. "I thought originally you weren't going to come back for me," she said. "I always come back for my friends, Sakura," you replied. She smiled as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

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Well? How was it? Review please. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, especially Shikamaru's and Kakashi's fights. I think this was my longest chapter, if I am correct. Here is a poll. I know what is going to happen at the end of the story. But I don't want to end it at chapter 7 or 8. What do you think should happen over the next chapter or two?

A) Xorias' and Sakura's relationship grows

B) Xorias becomes a Jounin and takes on students

C) Or give me your ideas…

I will not post any lemons in this story, as I have one particular reader who would think I'd be perverted to do so, and would think less of me. On top of that, she lives next to me! Maybe in the sequel, but don't get your hopes up.


	7. Assistance for the Kazekage?

**Never Surrender **

_My first fanfiction. Please read and review. I am trying a new format for my FF, let me know if it's better or worse. Sorry about the late update, please accept my formal apologies. I made it up to you by nearly doubling the reading time. That's right, you get to read more before the chapter ends. Over 6000 words. Mainly because I need to write a 6k word entry to be able to beta-read. Enjoy! _

You awoke from your sleep to find it quiet. Sakura was still sleeping, so you laid in bed, remaining silent. You noticed outside it was snowing. Oh, how you longed to get outside and out of this damn hospital. You took your copy of Make-Out Paradise off the table next to you. You read for about five minutes or so, when you heard Sakura say something.

"Xorias, I'm injured, tired, and exhausted. Please don't make me come over there. I know you don't want to be eating the hospital food here. No need to stay here any longer than you have to," she said groggily.

Over the next few days, you stayed in the hospital, having your normal rations of hospital food, which included, pea soup, Jell-O, and water, wanting more. Never had you wanted ramen more than now. You never thought that you would crave food like that.

Because Sakura had fully recovered from her injuries, she would make a usual visit everyday, sometimes just to see how you were doing, and other times to sneak in goodies for you. You really didn't have much for entertainment, other than your two sock puppets that you resorted to when you were about to die from boredom.

Though Naruto said he didn't pardon you from secretly conspiring with the Council at the time he said it, he seemed to forget it had ever happened. He seemed to be his old cheery self. So many friendly faces would visit you on a nearly constant basis. You seemed to have proven your loyalty to the village, and they realized it.

You had gone against the Council's wishes and rescued Sakura, nearly at the cost of your own life. But by doing so, the Hokage had recognized it and she requested to see you when you were able to walk again. But seeing as how she ran the hospital, it didn't make much sense.

Using the Sharingan took more of a toll on you than you had originally thought possible. But after about a week in the hospital, you were finally released, giving you your freedom.

The village was put on high alert due to the kidnapping. And because Kakashi had unwillingly given the Council leader, Larza, the location of the secret scrolls, and the failure of killing Larza, the village was nearly on lockdown from the potential of another attack by Orochimaru.

However, on the bright side, Christmas was nearing. It was that time of year. Children would come running into their parents' bedroom, jump up and down on their beds like a three year old on crack. This time around, you had a family to spend it with. This put a smile on your face as you walked to the Hokage's office. You opened the door to Tsunade's office, to hear her yelling at you.

"Where the hell have you been?" she shouted.

"I was in the hospital, remember? How much have you had to drink? Had you not fed me that pea soup, I might have gotten out sooner," you replied.

She calmed down as you asked her, "What the hell was in that pea soup anyway?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know," she replied with a serious look on her face. You shuddered as she spoke.

"But let's get down to business," she said changing the unpleasant conversation.

"Xorias Odamori, I am appointing you to the position of ANBU until the threat of the Council of Lorii has been resolved. You have more knowledge than anyone in the village on the Council, and I intend to end this threat sooner rather than later. You will use your knowledge to counter any moves they may make. You and your team eliminated some of the members. Though you have weakened their resolve, they aren't anywhere close to calling it quits. Use your knowledge and your newfound abilities to serve and protect the village and the ones you love. Do you accept?"

"Of course, Lady Hokage," you replied.

"Good, I will inform Neji. In the mean time, Sakura wanted to see you. She is at the ramen shop," she said as she ushered you out the door.

"Right," you replied and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

You walked to the ramen bar, noticing your stomach was yearning for some real food. As you approached the shop, Sakura turned around and got up. "Hey, Xorias!" she said as she hugged you.

"Look's like you survived the hospital. How was the pea soup?" she asked teasingly.

"Don't ask," you replied.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about," you continued changing the subject.

"Well, seeing as you have the Sharingan now, you know that you have an amazing gift. But with that gift, comes a great amount of personal responsibility. On top of that, you are not the only one. Kakashi has one in his left eye. You may have seen it before," she explained.

"Yeah," you replied. "There is Sasuke and Itachi," she said provoking your thoughts.

"The Council said that they would be my half-brothers," you said.

"How do you know so much, Sakura?" you asked.

"I had a huge crush on Sasuke when I was 12. I also had Kakashi as my sensei. So I have had a lot of contact with the Sharingan," she explained.

The two of you ate lunch at the ramen shop, chatting about the latest events and about what happened after Durei's death. She explained how Larza escaped. When you said nothing she was confused. "Aren't you worried that he escaped?" she asked.

"I rescued you, that was all that was important to me. We will deal with him later. I would have rather lost him than lost you, Sakura," you explained.

She blushed. No one had ever said that to her before. Whenever someone had said something along those lines, they would have been drilled into the wall. But with Xorias…

After a few hours, you finally left the shop and went home. You opened the door to Naruto's house to find Naruto and Hinata kissing on the couch. You merely rolled your eyes and went upstairs. You took off your shirt and hopped into bed. It felt great to sleep in a real bed.

You awoke in the middle of the night, half-asleep and groggy to someone in the room. "Xorias… Xorias… can you hear me?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah," you replied, realizing that someone was there that shouldn't be.

"Fokuske!" you yelled under your breath.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" you asked, taken completely by surprise by his presence.

"I want to join you," he replied. You cocked an eyebrow.

"Not in the literal sense. But I want to help. I can act as a spy. You need all the intelligence that you can get," he explained.

"I trusted the Council. Then they betrayed my trust, big time," you replied.

"Why should I trust you?"

Fokuske thought hard on this, searching his mind for proof.

"I believed in what you said. No one should be treated as you were," he argued. Fokuske was you first friend in the Council. You had easily become friends with him, and found it easy to talk to him. That's probably why you did kill him the second you realized it was him.

"Fine. We'll see how this works out. But if I get any feeling that you are going to do anything to hurt Sakura or any of my friends, I will kill you personally. Do I make myself clear," you stated.

"As crystal, Xorias," he replied.

"Good, now let me sleep," you said as you waved him away.

"It's almost dawn you know," he argued.

"All the more reason for you to leave before someone sees you. Besides," you said as you hopped into bed, "if the sun's not up, I'm not up." He laughed quietly as he leapt from your room, outside and over the walls.

You woke up a few hours later, with a more substantial amount of energy. Now that you were sleeping in a real bed, and on a normal diet, you felt rejuvenated. You hadn't done anything fun in a while, which in your case, was unhealthy.

But something happened over the next week made up for it. The Hokage assigned you and Sakura a team of genin to train and to prepare for the Chuunin Exams. You had said that only Jounin's were assigned teams, but she had stated that she wanted to get you in the routine of being a Konoha shinobi. This made you get that warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

They were assigned to Ebisu's team originally, but the Hokage assigned them to you. (No not Konohamaru's team. They are Chuunin in this story.) And Sakura's team had stayed in the academy an extra year to build their skills. So both, your's and Sakura's teams weren't rookie.

In fact they, sent you out on a C rank mission to Sunagakure. Both your teams were to go to the Kazekage, Gaara, and help return an escaped convict.

"So, we need to introduce ourselves. I'll start," Sakura said as the two teams of genin gathered at the gate.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I am a your Jounin sensei," she said as she contemplated on what to say next. She figured she would copy her old sensei for old times sake.

"I don't particularly like or dislike anything. I don't really have a hobby, and my dreams for the future, well, I haven't really thought about it," she recited.

Then you spoke up, "My name is Xorias Odamori. I am also your Jounin sensei," you said pointing to what team was yours.

"I like spending time with my close friends, and training. I dislike naughty genin who do not respect their Jounin sensei's orders!" you said raising your voice.

Then you chuckled a little, adding, "No, I'm not a mean person naturally, but I expect you to follow orders okay?" you asked your team. All three of them nodded smiling.

"Well, go ahead, introduce yourselves," you ordered.

One piped up. A girl, on your squad. "My name is Koyuke. I like playing Shogi and I enjoy coming up with ideas for games. But I dislike working, it's boring and I have better things I could be doing."

"_A natural Shikamaru…" _you thought as you chuckled.

Another one spoke out, this time from Sakura's team.

He stood up and spoke, "My name is Xani. I like reading and exercising. I dislike, well, I don't really hate a lot of things," he said as he sat back down.

The others, sat up and sat down without talking about anything else but their names. On your team there was, Kimura, a boy, and Mina, a girl, plus Koyuke. On Sakura's team, there was Yubi, a boy, Hina, a girl, plus Xani.

"They just don't like the fact that you are replacing their previous sensei's. Xani and I don't mind, but the others…" Koyuke said as she trailed off.

"Well, you may not like it, but, we are your new sensei's and I expect you to be courteous. In addition to being a Jounin, I am also ANBU. So that means I don't need to use conventional means of punishment, to get you back on track," you threatened.

"But hopefully, I won't have to resort to that," you finished with a smile on your face. Everyone nodded their heads.

"Alright, let's set off then," you said turning to Sakura. She nodded and started together.

You walked past the scenery that encompassed the countryside for miles. Stopping just to enjoy the view every hour or so. The team may not have liked you or Sakura, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves, telling jokes, laughing, and overall having fun. But as the evening approached it was time to start thinking about where to set up for the night. You and Sakura started looking at areas on a map for places to rest for the night. You found one particular spot, where trees surrounded you on three sides.

As you approached it and stopped walking, you turned to your squad. "Alright, my squad, we set up for the night. Sakura's team set's up tomorrow, we came to an agreement," you stated as a groan escaped from Koyuke.

You turned to her an eyebrow cocked. "I don't want to tonight," she said placing her hands behind her head and yawning.

"The rest of you get busy. Koyuke come here please," you said benevolently as Mina and Kimura started setting up camp.

"What is it sensei?" You like the sound of that.

"Do you know a Shikamaru Nara?" You went to crack your knuckled when you realized you couldn't move your hands. You looked down to see a shadow extending from Koyuke's body.

"Does that answer your question sensei?" she asked as she chuckled and released the jutsu.

"He's my brother," she added. "I learned a lot from him and I want to be just like him."

"Well, I enjoy being friends with Shikamaru. And one things for sure, when something needs to be done, he does it, even if it seems bothersome because he knows it's for the good of the team. If you learn a lot from him then you need to act as he does. That means working for the good of the team. Do you understand?" you asked.

"Yes, sensei," she replied, a lot less reluctance in her voice.

She started walking back to her teammates, and they began setting up camp. Sakura walked over to you.

"Wow, what did you tell her?" she asked wide-eyed.

"I told her Shikamaru would do things like set up camp for the good of the squad," you replied.

She turned to you, "That's horrible," she said giggling.

"I know, Shikamaru never did anything as remedial as this, but it seemed fitting to say so," you laughed.

"Well, what do you have planned for tomorrow?" she asked you.

"If our calculations are correct, we should get to Sunagakure tomorrow morning. So as long as we don't all suddenly fall ill and don't move for a half a day or so, we should make it there by tomorrow morning. I have a special training session. I would like to have your squad join mine for the exercise," you explained.

"Of course, just let me know when to do it," she replied.

"Right, well, good night," you said entering the large tent near the front of the camp. Sakura laughed.

"You thought that you would get that whole tent to yourself? Are you fat?" she asked as she giggled.

"Oh, I see," you said.

You opened the flap of the tent to let her in. You quickly changed under the covers of your sleeping bag. She put her bag down near the corner of the tent.

You noticed she was starting to undress, so you turned around and gave her, her privacy as you asked, "So what do you think of your squad?"

"They seem nice enough, especially Xani. I just wish I had more girls," she said as she finished changing.

You turned back to face her and replied, "I may have a difficult time with this group. Especially with the Shikamaru of the group. But it may turn out to be okay."

"Mr. Optimism," she said as smiled at you.

You chuckled. You put both your hands behind your head, and faced the ceiling of the tent. "Good night Sakura," you said.

"Yeah, good night, Xorias," she replied.

You both, exhausted from the day's traveling, fell asleep quickly.

You awoke in the middle of the night, unsteady for some reason. You turned to Sakura, still deeply sleeping. "_She looks so beautiful when she sleeps,"_ you thought.

It must have been nothing, ever since the Council of Lorii had lost Durei, they had been quiet, except for Fokuske of course. You went back to sleep reassured.

You woke the next morning to find it sunny and pleasantly warm, a nice cool breeze filled the air, as you rubbed your eyes and stepped out of your tent. Sakura was already awake and sitting in front of a fire holding a cup. She picked up a cup of equal size and gave it to you.

"Coffee, here," she said you held out your hand to take it from her.

"Yuck, I never did like coffee," you said blanching as you drank a sip. You never did like coffee. Maybe it was the horrible taste that it had that woke people up in the morning. But you knew you needed it because you needed energy. And a ninja with energy was a happy ninja.

After drinking a while, you whined, "I'm still not awake, I've been drinking this for ten minutes."

You were about to take another sip, when as you raised your cup, you all of a sudden jerked your hand and the coffee went all over your face nearly giving you three degree burns. You cried in pain as the coffee felt as though your face was burning your face off. You deduced it was Koyuke.

"When I break out of this jutsu, I better not turn and see you Koyuke…" you threatened, Sakura doubled over laughing the whole time this was going on.

"You awake now, sensei?" she said as she chuckled.

"And burned as an added bonus…" you said as you trailed off. She released the jutsu and came over to you with bandages in hand.

Sakura had her share of laughs and came over to you kneeled down and placed her hands together and then placed them over your face. They started to glow a feint green as you felt the burns go away.

"There, how is it?" she asked.

"Good, it doesn't sting anymore ," you replied. "Where did you learn that?"

"Learn what? The healing jutsu?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"In case no one told you, I'm a medical ninja, one of the few," she explained.

"Could you teach me?" you asked.

"It would take a while. Are you sure you want me to teach you?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I am. I am ANBU, I need to know as much as possible. I am ready," you replied as you nodded your head.

Sakura reluctantly agreed, thus the start of your medical training began. You agreed that you didn't want to become a medical ninja but that you wanted to learn just a few essential medical jutsu to be able to sustain yourself in a fight if you were injured.

The two of you didn't start right away, she merely agreed to teach you, not necessarily now. You assumed the genin were up at this point.

"All right. Let's get moving again," you ordered as the ninja gathered their things and started running again.

As dusk approached, you looked to Sakura, "Sakura, I think now is the time for the training exercise."

"Right," she replied nodding her head.

"We're stopping here briefly," you stated as you came to a halt on a tree branch.

The Genin jumped to the ground waiting to hear an explanation from the Jounin. You placed your hand into your weapons pouch, while counting out the number of people that were to take place in this exercise. You pulled out a single kunai knife and put it in your hand. You released it and it whipped passed the Genin, lodging itself right into a tree.

You jumped down from the tree, and started talking. "We are going to conduct a training exercise. You will be competing in teams, my team and Sakura's team, of course," you explained.

You reached into your pocket, and threw a deck of cards in the middle of the six Genin.

"Playing cards? What does that have to do anything?" Xani asked.

"We will be playing extreme spoons. And that will be what you will be going after," you explained as you pointed to the kunai knife that you threw into the tree.

"Here are the rules. Sakura's team will start out picking a card and then discarding a card to my team. Then my team will pick one up from the discards that Sakura's team discards. You will take turns drawing and discarding cards until one team achieves a four of a kind. Once that happens both teams will rush for the kunai knife. Only one team has to get the four of a kind. Here's the catch. You will be playing a half a mile from the kunai knife. Once a team has achieved the four of a kind, and has ran for the kunai knife, all techniques are okayed. You will not get to the kunai knife unless you give it your all. The first team that reaches and extracts the kunai knife win," you explained in detail.

You lead both teams to the starting point. You dealt one member of each team four cards. The game officially started when you lowered your hand starting the exercise. The card player from Sakura's team was Xani, and the card player from your team was Kimura.

As the game dragged on, sweat starting beading on Xani's forehead, as Kimura started making sudden movements to try to throw off Xani's composure. If one team failed to achieve four of a kind but went anyway they were disqualified.

"Got it!" Xani yelled as Yubi and Hina started dashing for the kunai, with your team not far behind.

As both teams neared the tree, they started using their techniques, not just seeing who could run faster.

You and Sakura observed from the tree-line. "**Ninja Art; Shadow Possession Jutsu**!" Koyuke yelled as all three members of Sakura's team were caught in Koyuke's shadow. Kimura and Mina started running unopposed to the kunai knife.

"It can't be that easy," you said quietly.

"We've reached the tree!" you heard Kimura shout from a few hundred feet away.

"What?! No way! Aaaah!" Kimura was screaming in excruciating pain as his skin was ripped from his body, and Mina was having her insides turned upside down as she writhed in pain on the ground.

Koyuke knew what was happening, but she knew she would have to release the jutsu for it to work. But she had to. She was also in pain, but she wasn't as heavily affected as her teammates. She placed her hands together forcing you to cock one eyebrow, released the Shadow Possession Jutsu, and shouted, "Kai!"

As if on cue, Kimura and the rest of your team were no longer screaming in pain.

"Genjutsu," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"Impressive," you stated.

Sakura's team was almost there. All of a sudden probably twenty shuriken went straight in front of Sakura's team, forcing them to stop. From the sidelines behind the trees, Mina was moving the shuriken with strings attached to the ninja tools. They all contacted into the same tree. Sakura's team was intrigued, but not phased. They were about to continue when, they heard Mina's voice.

"**Fire Style; Dragon Flame Jutsu**!" as the wires were exposed in a pillar of flame, completely blocking Sakura's team's path.

Xani formed a few hand signs and shouted, "**Water Style; Water Dragon Jutsu**!" as a water mass shaped like a dragon collided with the flaming wire, causing the fire to die off, but making the dragon disappear.

Both teams were approaching the kunai knife. Hina leapt over the Genin and landed to the side of the kunai knife. Kimura was almost there. He leapt for the kunai knife and so did Hina. They both jumped for it.

You stood up from your sitting position and jumped down towards the tree to see the final result. As you walked up to Kimura and Hina you saw who was the victor.

"Congratulations, Kimura and Hina," you said.

You looked as you saw both Hina and Kimura grabbing on to the kunai knife as if it was a priceless artifact. It was a tie.

You scratched the back of your head as you were startled. You didn't think that there would be a tie. But nonetheless you were satisfied with the results. Sakura came up behind you and walked to both teams congratulating them.

"Well, I'm proud of all of you. You did very well," you said as they shuffled their feet from the praise. Praise from an ANBU. They liked it.

"But now we need to get moving again," Sakura said as she turned to you.

"We need to get to Sunagakure by morning," you finished.

As you started running, Koyuke asked a very good question. "If we are chasing down a convict in Sunagakure, why doesn't the Kazekage send his own ninja?"

"I think it's because his ninja have tried, but maybe they were stumped," Xani reasoned.

You merely wondered. Koyuke raised a good question. You hadn't thought about that. You took the order without question. Why "didn't" the Kazekage send his own ninja? There were plenty of good ninja in Sunagakure… You would just have to ask the Kazekage when you got there.

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"This is what they look like! Go now!" she yelled.

"Yes, maam," he replied as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

He only had so much time before the ANBU member, the medical ninja, and the other Genin with them reached Sunagakure. He had to hurry…

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As the sun set behind the horizon, you decided it was time to call it a night. Now it was Sakura's team's turn to set up camp. After that time, you and Sakura got into the tent and started coming up with battle plans.

"So the convict was last sighted east of Sunagakure. Scouts report that they have him surrounded, but are unable to move, as he is undetectable. But they know he can't escape that area. If we can find him and have Koyuke trap him in the Shadow Possession, we have him," Sakura explained.

"Remember, this is a mission. While it is a real threat, it is still only C rank. We shouldn't interfere. I doubt a C rank criminal, could take on six Genin and live to tell the tale, especially six experienced ones. Still, I still can't shake this feeling that something about this is wrong…" you expressed you concern as you agreed with her plan.

You agreed upon a final battle strategy before shutting your eyes and going to sleep.

You awoke in the middle of the night again. This time due to shuffling in the trees. There was no breeze, so you knew someone was there. But then the rustling stopped. Maybe it really was the wind…

You awoke the next morning only twenty miles from Sunagakure. You were going to arrive on time. Everyone was awake before you as usual. So you quickly got dressed and hopped out of the tent. You got right to running. You were almost there, you figured leaving now wouldn't hurt.

As you approached the gates of Sunagakure, there was a short blonde-haired ninja who greeted you briefly saying, "There's no time to see the Kazekage! The situation has gotten out of hand! We need you there right away!" he shouted as he darted ahead, you naturally following. You were joined by a black-haired ninja along the way.

But it was weird, you should've seen the Kazekage first so that he knew you would arrive. They didn't even send someone to notify him. Something was definitely up. But you couldn't place your finger on it.

"Here is where he was. He went off in that direction," he said as he pointed.

"We saw him escape in there. He discovered it this morning. It was a secret house where our ANBU would hold meetings. If he got his hands on what was in there, he could…" he said as he trailed off.

"We tried going after him, but he has apparently figured out our attack patterns and adjusts accordingly. Maybe new ninja will add a new twist," he explained.

"Sakura, this may be more dangerous than expected. We may need to get involved. The Genin may be over their heads in this one," you said.

"Right," she agreed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"There they are," he said as he looked at the ANBU ninja. "Looks like I'm not too late."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As you were about to enter the house, the ninja escorting you gasped as he whipped his head around to see someone coming at him from the tree-line.

You turned your head to see someone from the shadows falling down towards the ninja that had greeted you! You knew it, someone had been following you!

"Rasengan!" the ninja shouted, ripping apart the other ninja's body and sending him flying killing him instantly.

"Naruto?!" Sakura yelled as Naruto pulled back his hood.

"This man was working with the convict! Get out of the way!" he shouted as he threw two shuriken at the other ninja who leapt out of the way with ease.

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing?!" Sakura shouted back.

"That man is the convict himself! They were trying to lure you into the house and trap you there!" he explained.

Suddenly, both the accused convict and Naruto were both stopped in their tracks. You turned to see Koyuke trapping both ninja in the Shadow Possession Jutsu.

"What's going on Naruto?" you asked alarmed.

"That man is the escaped convict that you were looking for," he accused.

"Why would the Kazekage send ninja after us and kill us?" Sakura asked.

"Because he wouldn't. Look, before you left the village, a few days before to be more specific, the Hokage sent a letter by hawk to the Kazekage, informing him that she was sending ninja to assist them. Then, a day after you left, she got a reply from the Kazekage, saying that he never ordered the mission and that no such convict existed. So the Hokage sent me to your aid, as she knew you were walking into a trap. Thank goodness I got here in time to warn you," Naruto explained.

"That would explain why I was doubting the logic of this mission and what was behind it," you stated.

"Naruto, thanks for coming," Sakura said smiling.

"Well, well. Looks like the two village leaders figured it out. I congratulate them," the man, still trapped in the jutsu.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked.

"Xorias, dead," he replied simply, with an evil grin on his face.

"After the Council's humiliating defeat at the hands of the Konoha ninja, they started hiring contractors, mercenaries, if you will. I was the first of many. However, all is not lost on our side. We still have one trump card. We know where the secret scrolls are now. It's only a matter of time," he explained.

Koyuke released the jutsu on Naruto's end to boost the power of her shadow on the mercenary. "I still can't hold it!" she yelled alarmed.

You drew your two swords and stood in a fighting position. Guys let Naruto, Sakura, and I handle this. This is way past your level of fighting style,' you ordered.

You were not, under any circumstances, going to put the Genin in danger.

They obeyed and stepped back. Naruto called forth his shadow clones, and Sakura put on her gloves.

"This is going to be fun!" he laughed maniacally as Koyuke's shadow returned to her body as she hopped behind you.

He lunged at you swinging his sword horizontally, as you blocked it with ease.

"I have been trained in the art of sword fighting for ten years, I wouldn't advise fighting me. You would lose the fight, horrendously," you stated confidently.

He merely smirked and he whipped his hand to the side and reversed the blade now moving towards Sakura. She ducked and rolled away from the blade. He hopped over you as he swung at Naruto in mid-air making a large gash in his shoulder, only to have it be a clone disappear in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto's clones tried and failed miserably to catch the mercenary off guard. Leading to their immediate disfigurement. The attacker then turned again to you weaving his attacks in and out of your sword blocks. One particular strike had the mercenary swing diagonally, and you blocked it with one sword and caught the sword in a cross blade using your second scimitar. You flicked your wrist sending the attacker's sword flying much too far out of his reach. He hopped away about ten feet.

Sakura moved in. It was her turn. She was punching left and right, the mercenary barely avoiding each attack. If she could just land one hit…

She took one more swing, missing by an inch.

"Oh well, it's not like I can dodge it forever," he said as it seemed as if he was going to accept the blow! Sakura's punch hit, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. Nobody could see anything. The Genin were trying to hold on to something. When the smoke cleared, the mercenary was still standing. In fact his fist was directly in contact with hers.

"Does he have the same power as she does?!' you thought amazed and horrified at the same time.

Sakura gasped as followed up with an attack to the ground knocking Sakura off her feet and sending her into a tree. Naruto darted over to Sakura and was immediately hit with a kunai in the shoulder. The wound was deep but not life-threatening. Sakura all of a sudden felt like she didn't have any energy left.

The mercenary lunged at you. "Show me what you got traitor!" he yelled as he landed a punch in your gut. Moving you back at least twelve feet, though still standing. He attacked again. His speed was unreal.

"This time I will put all the chakra into my hand and release it. I will finish this quickly, the move on to your friends!" he shouted.

Sakura laughed. "What are you laughing at wench?!" he shouted.

"You made a big mistake," she replied. "He goes into a frenzy if you threaten his friends."

He shrugged and lunged at inhuman speeds and threw a punch aiming for your gut, but his hand was stopped inches from your stomach.

He noticed your head was down, so he figured you couldn't see him.

"What? How could you have anticipated my attacks?" he asked in amazement and horror.

You lifted your head to the mercenary revealing your three-wheeled Sharingan eye.

"Damnit, what the hell is that?!" he shouted.

"You threatened my friends lives, underestimated me and my comrades, and disrespect my squad. Now you pay for your ignorance," you said infuriated.

The mercenaries' hand was all of a sudden forced back by your closed fist. You moved your hand in such a fashion that made his hand snap like a twig, a loud cry of pain came from the aggressor. You then proceeded with the brutal ass-beating of the mercenary, which consisted of gut-kneeing, face punching and yes, even a Kakashi-style bitch slap (From the second fight with Zabuza).

Even though the mercenary tried to retaliate, not only was he injured, but he was going up against the Sharingan itself.

You formed hand signs, and the Chidori appeared in your hand. You took your right hand containing Chidori and your left hand holding the mercenary by the collar and lifted him into the air and thrust your right hand into the mercenary killing him instantaneously.

"It's over," you said as you deactivated your Sharingan, not passing out this time. The Genin emerged from their spots and came over to their squad leaders.

Sakura got up with the help of Naruto. Sakura was starting to regain some of her energy back and she performed a healing jutsu for Naruto's wound. Sakura instructed you to lay against a tree while she examined you.

"Look you don't need to do this, really I'm okay," you insisted.

You started to get up when you were held down by a single finger.

"Listen, I hate it when you get hurt Xorias. I want to make sure you are okay. Alright?" she asked as her frustration turned to concern.

"Alright," you said reassuring her with a smile.

After a few minutes of examining your body, she affirmed that nothing was wrong but a few scratches and bruises.

"Well, we should report back to the Hokage," you said, as Naruto and the others nodded their heads.

Two days passed as you reached Konoha. You immediately went to see the Hokage.

"Good, looks like Naruto warned you in time," she said as she saw you walk in the door.

"Yeah, thanks again. Listen, he wasn't a convict as you said. But what I learned was that he was a mercenary," you explained.

"Do you think he was a member of the Council?" she asked as she placed her hands under the chin like she usually did.

"No. I think he was working for them. I didn't recognize him, so he wasn't a member. But he is directly working with the Council of Lorii," you replied.

"We will discuss this later, tomorrow is Christmas. Unless you forgot…" she said squinting evilly at you.

"No, Lady Hokage," you replied as you left the room in a puff of smoke.

She was right, tomorrow was Christmas, and you had a good feeling about tomorrow…

A/N: Thanks for reading chapter 7. Sorry this was so late to post. I have just been getting over a cold over the last week. Next chapter should be up next week, probably Sunday. I have a state tournament for my speech and debate team this weekend, so I will have a lot of down time at the hotel in Tacoma to write my next chapter.

Next time: It's Christmas, and Xorias just needs to find people to celebrate it with! And Fokuske pays a visit!


	8. The Kiss and The Sound Politician

****

Never Surrender

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My first fanfiction. Please read and review. Another change that I am making. I'm not going to write 2nd person any more. Lemon in this chapter, or at the very least, a first attempt at one. I finally decided to write one for Naruto and Hinata. Not one for a certain two ninja, that will be in the official sequel. I am officially announcing the sequel to this story called, "A New Age." I will give you a new update later. Enjoy!

Xorias woke up before anyone else had. Though it seemed strange to him, it was Christmas, you would think that everyone would be up crowding the tree, waiting for everyone to wake up. Well, someone had to be the first to crowd the tree.

He glanced out the window to see the ground covered in a blanket of snow. He remembered Christmas with his family many years ago, snow covering the ground. Him and his parents having snowball fights and building snowmen, then coming inside for a warm cup of hot chocolate. But instead of moping, Xorias smiled. Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, and Kakashi were his family, now.

He made yourself a cup of hot chocolate and sat down on the couch staring outside, while it lightly snowed. After a few sips, he sensed someone behind him.

"How long do you plan on eyeing the tree, Naruto?" he asked, not even bothering to turn around.

"Damn, he's good," Naruto said to himself, though obviously not quietly enough as a small laugh escaped from Xorias.

He walked over to the kitchen and made a cup of hot chocolate as well, and sat down in a seat adjacent to the couch.

"Looks like it is just going to be us for a couple of hours until Hinata gets here from her compound," he said.

So for a next couple of hours he chatted with Naruto about upcoming events, and random stuff that was coming off the top of both their heads. Then there was a knock at the door.

"Ah, there's Hinata," Naruto said as he seemed to drag himself out of the comfortable chair.

Though as he opened the door, he saw a certain pink-haired female ninja standing in front of him. "Sakura! We weren't expecting you," he said rubbing the back of his head and beckoning her in with the other hand.

"All the times Xorias has saved me, and you don't think I would find some way to make it up to him?" she asked cocking an eyebrow.

"I think there's more underneath the surface than that," Naruto whispered. He clearly though, wasn't a very subtle person when it came to things like this, as Sakura hit him over the head with her fist.

"Merry Christmas, Naruto," she said laughing.

She walked over and sat down next to Xorias. Shortly thereafter, Hinata walked in through the door.

Xorias had told Kakashi that he wanted him there sharply at nine, but you figured he would be late anyway. But to everyone's surprise, not just his own, he showed up on time, in fact a minute early.

Everyone was here. You decided to start the gift opening. Xorias passed his gift to Kakashi. It was a small box wrapped in red wrapping paper. He slowly opened the box and a blinding flash of light engulfed Kakashi as he was nearly blinded. His hands started shaking like a person with epilepsy.

"N-n… no… no way! This is…" he rambled for nearly a minute.

"Yep, it is a reserve ticket to the upcoming movie, Makeout Paradise: Revelations," Xorias said grinning from ear to ear.

"How did you get this?" he asked completely flustered.

"You can thank the Sannin."

"Of course. How did I know, Ero-sennin was involved in this," Naruto said as he laughed lightly.

"Thank you," Kakashi merely responded, obviously too speechless to say much else.

Kakashi gave his gift to Naruto consisting of a new outfit. It bore the Uzumaki insignia on the back but the colors were black and red. With black as the primary color and red as the shoulder color.

Sakura gave Naruto a set of coupons to Ichiraku. Lots. Lots and lots.

Xorias gave his gift to Naruto and Hinata. They opened it and pulled out two slips of paper, roughly the same size of Kakashi's ticket.

"They are a pair of passes to the Hot Springs in Sunagakure," he said as they looked at each other and smiled intertwining their fingers and kissing lightly.

Naruto looked down and saw another gift below the box. He opened it and Hinata blushed madly as Naruto gasped.

Sakura fell off the couch, laughing her ass off, as Hinata nearly fainted.

"Condoms… that was low Xorias," Naruto said seriously.

"Come on, it seemed appropriate. All the times you two have sex. I figured you should be protected," he explained.

Sakura recovering from her laughing session, walked over to Hinata. "Hinata… dear. We think it's for the best," she said, causing Hinata to blush even more.

"Wait… _we_?" Naruto asked. "The _two_ of you went shopping for us and found these condoms?" Naruto asked accusingly cocking an eyebrow.

Sakura hadn't expected the question. "I-uh, meant, he did the shopping, and I am supporting the decision," she explained, believing she had gotten herself out of the hot seat.

"You support his decision to do so? What are you his spouse now?" Naruto pressed, knowing he had found what she was referring to, when she meant "we."

Sakura blushed a little, obviously so that he couldn't see. "That's not what I meant. I meant… you know what, I don't have to justify myself," Sakura said, literally ending the potentially incriminating conversation.

Naruto laughed. He knew. Naruto wrapped his arm around Hinata and kissed her forehead, as Sakura opened her gift from Xorias. As expected, she shrieked. "Xorias, this is beautiful! Where did you get this? I guess it doesn't matter, this is so pretty," she said as she threw her arms around you, as a gesture of gratitude.

The rest of the morning and the early afternoon was spent exchanging presents, laughter, joy, and all the things that make one feel all warm and fuzzy inside on Christmas. Xorias and Sakura were hungry. He asked if Naruto and Hinata wanted to come have lunch with the two of them, they declined.

Naruto and Hinata were spending time together. They were much too busy.

(A/N: Lemon scene; anyone named Julia Skow should "not" read this next part)

Naruto shut and locked the door. Hinata felt trapped in a sense. But she trusted Naruto. She finally after all those years, had gotten together with him. She trusted him with her life, something that Naruto would protect until the end of his life.

Hinata never wanted to leave him. Naruto walked over to the bed where Hinata was sitting on the edge. He leaned over and kissed her. She embraced the kiss and deepened it. Naruto was always so gentle with her. He was loud, and played rough with everyone, but when it came to Hinata, he didn't want to break her, like she was something he couldn't ever afford to replace. She highly respected him for it. Naruto knew when to be gentle.

"God, you are so beautiful," Naruto said still kissing her.

"Naruto…" she said as she grabbed his face in her hands.

"I love you so much," Naruto said.

"I love you too," she added.

You continued kissing until she said something a few seconds later. "Please, Naruto, I need more," she pleaded.

Naruto started kissing Hinata more roughly, and yet, still gentle, and she was exploring his mouth more vigorously. He unbuttoned her shirt and it fell off. All she had on top was her bra. She quickly remedied that, as she unhooked the straps of her bra and letting it drop onto the ground. And she threw his shirt off and threw it down on the ground. Naruto put his hands on her stomach, rubbing his hands against them. She put her hands on his chest and pushed him against the wall. She wasn't stopping there. She moved her hands around as she moved lower until she reached his waist. Naruto started moving his chest against hers as they moved toward the bed and fell over.

Naruto moved his head and started kissing her stomach, moving up. She moaned in pleasure. She had such a perfect body. Naruto wanted to treat her like china plates. He didn't want to be too rough. Naruto and Hinata were kissing each other with such passion and ferocity. "Naruto, I need more!" she shouted.

Naruto gently removed her underwear exposing herself. She blushed slightly. She didn't quite know why. She was so used to being around Naruto. It's not like she was a whore. She was his girlfriend and he had seen her naked plenty of times. That still didn't explain much, though at this point in time she didn't care.

Hinata quickly removed Naruto's boxers, revealing his manhood. "You ready?" Naruto asked.

"Always," she replied lightly kissing him.

Naruto then slowly inserted himself into her, a small moan escaping Hinata. She moved in tune with Naruto's thrusts making the time spent more pleasurable. Naruto started increasing his speed causing Hinata to moan louder and louder each time.

Every time they spent sleeping with each other, was like the first time. No one wants to mess up their first time, Hinata figured.

Naruto and Hinata were both close to release, just a little push was all it had to be. As they got closer and closer, Hinata and Naruto both, started making noises that a passerby would call the authorities on. Somewhere out there, a small animal was suffering.

"N-Naruto!" Hinata screamed as she arched her back, throwing the back of her head against the pillow as she and Naruto climaxed together.

Naruto collapsed on top of Hinata and kissed her forehead saying, "I love you, Hinata."

"I love you, too, Naruto," she replied as she closed her eyes and fell asleep with Naruto.

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The time Xorias spent with Sakura, was, quite frankly, much less noisy.

Both ninja merely chatted about the daily events at lunch. The Chuunin Exams were coming up in a month or so. And Sakura had recently visited Tsunade and told her that the Hokage wanted Xorias to proctor part three of the exams. As ANBU, he figured he should be there anyway.

Though she probably knew, even though he would never admit it, he enjoyed her company. It was always fun to be around her. She was unique. Everyday was an adventure.

Sakura was about to turn to him and say something else when she placed her hand on the other side of the chair so that she could face you properly when she planted her hand on a rather large piece of wood, piercing fairly deep in the skin. Sakura winced in pain, as he took her injured hand in his and examined it.

"Wait, you're the medical ninja, what am I doing?" he said frowning pulling your hand away.

"You were doing… ouch… what comes naturally to you… ouch," she said as she put pressure on the injured hand, smiling through the pain and laughing.

"Actually, this would be a good time to practice your medical ninjutsu. Go ahead," she said taking his hand and placing it on her injured one.

"I don't know Sakura…" Xorias said unsure if his abilities.

"It's okay… I trust you," she said smiling.

He placed his other hand underneath hers and focused his chakra. It seemed to Xorias that the chakra would flow better with his hands in that position for this healing jutsu.

Sakura blushed slightly as she felt the contact of his skin on hers.

There was a slight buzz and chakra briefly appeared, healing her wound. It was his first time, so it didn't last long. But he had to start somewhere. She finished the jutsu, boosting the chakra flow of both her hands and his.

The wound healed easily. It was only a small puncture wound.

"Thank you," she said.

As the night approached, Xorias walked Sakura to her home, before returning to Naruto's house. Both of you approached the door. She turned to him, "Thanks."

There was a sudden flash of light in the darkness, as Sakura's little sister flashed a light in both his and Sakura's eyes. She moved her light to above the door, pointing to, yes, a mistletoe.

He scratched the back of his head, blushing.

Sakura began to say, "Look, you don't have to-" as he planted his lips on hers for a short kiss. Sakura was too shocked to return the kiss. _"He's so gentle," _she thought as he pulled away. Sakura started to blush uncontrollably.

To Xorias it seemed, merely a tradition. Not that it didn't mean anything to him, it meant everything. He figured she didn't return the kiss, for God knows why. He regretted the decision to follow tradition. To Sakura, it symbolized everything that the both of them had experienced together over the year. She quite enjoyed it, though she wouldn't admit it to him. However, due to a lack of communication, he may have destroyed the relationship between the two ninja.

Xorias was not looking forward to the awkward days that were to follow that night.

As Sakura slumped up the stairs, she played back the scene over and over again in her head. Her knees seemed to turn to rubber, every time she did play it back. She didn't understand.

__

"It was merely a Christmas tradition, but why do I feel this way every time I'm around him?" she thought to herself as she laid her head down on her pillow until sleep overcame her.

Sakura woke up the next morning well rested and readily jumped out of bed. Boy, did she have a story to tell the others. She couldn't wait to tell what happened.

She got dressed quickly and left the house. It was Sunday, which meant the female ninja gathered at Ichiraku for a few hours. She rushed to the ramen shop where, Ino, Ten Ten, and Temari. Temari was there simply as an ambassador to exchange information with the Hokage, but when she heard that the others were going to be at Ichiraku, she couldn't refuse.

They saw Sakura running to them as they were chatting with each other.

"Well, well. Look who it is. Sakura has decided to take a break from spending time with Xorias to hang out with us," Ino said giggling.

"Stop it, Ino," Temari said in Sakura's defense.

"You look like you have something to say," Ten Ten said cocking an eyebrow.

"I do. About last night," she started.

"Oh no, what happened?" Temari said concerned for the pink-haired ninja.

"Actually, it's not bad. Last night Xorias and I were walking to my house-"

"Gee, there's a surprise."

"And my sister appeared outside the window and pointed to a mistletoe with her flashlight that he and I were standing under," she continued.

"No!" Ino gasped. Ten Ten and Temari followed suit. Temari hadn't a clue who Xorias was, but by reputation, she knew him like her own brother.

"You kissed him?" Ten Ten asked wide eyed at this point.

"No, rather he kissed me…"

"Well?" Ino asked

"Well what?"

"How was it?"

"It was amazing. He was so gentle and- it just felt so good," Sakura said nearly collapsing in her chair.

"It seems to me…" Ten Ten started, "that you are starting to fall in love with him."

"I-I think you're right. He's amazing. He's so perfect. Everything I see in him just… I don't know, makes me like him even more as a person. I love him," Sakura stated.

"You always said you wanted an Uchiha,"

"What about Sasuke?" Ino asked.

"You can have him. This one is by far, a greater man than Sasuke will ever be. I haven't felt this way about anyone before," Sakura explained.

Sakura and the others continued talking for roughly and hour or so, when they all had to leave, for various reasons.

Xorias had just woken up. He had been up all night contemplating the kiss with Sakura, losing much sleep over it. He rubbed his eyes sleepily as the sun shone through the window brightly. The window was open when he stretched his arms.

"How goes it?"

"Sakura? Look about last night… I um, look, I don't want that to get in the way of our friendship…"

"I'm sorry? Were you expecting someone else?"

The voice was male.

"Fokuske… right, my bad," Xorias chuckled nervously.

He cocked an eyebrow as he started to talk again, "Look, that's none of my business. But this is… the Council has resorted to hiring mercenaries and assassins in order to take you out."

"_Really_?" Xorias said out loud, "I would never have guessed," you said sarcastically.

"Anything else? The sun rises every day. The sky is blue. Nothing else?" you asked.

"Yes. The Council has officially formed an alliance with Orochimaru and the Sound Village. However, my sources tell me that a high up politician within the Sound Village is sending his son here to this village. He wants to relieve some of the tension. Though the military officials want to continue fighting, the people think otherwise. So he wants his son to date someone from this village to decrease tension between the two villages. There hasn't been an attack on either village in quite some time, but that could easily change. His son is going date someone from a high up position. He said something about, the apprentice of the Hokage, or something like that…"

Xorias gasped.

"What? What is it?"

"Sakura…"

"Sakura?"

"The girl that I kissed last night…"

Fokuske looked down to his feet before speaking again, "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm just the messenger. I need to get going. I'll see if I can learn any more on my end…" he said as he leapt out of the window.

Xorias started walking to the Hokage's office. He needed more information, or rather confirmation.

As he walked into the office, Tsunade started speaking right away, "Xorias, just who I wanted to see. Look, I am sending you on a mission with your squad. You are to escort a politician to this village. He goes by the name of Daisuke. You will bring him here," she ordered.

He needed to confirm what Fokuske said, "What is his business here, we all know politicians cannot be trusted. You know that better than anyone."

"He is to date Sakura," she said as it felt as though his heart was being ripped out.

"Lady Hokage… I… cannot do this."

"What do you mean? You are ANBU and you will have your squad with you. This should be the easiest thing you've done in a while," she reasoned.

"No… it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"What I am about to tell you will not leave this room, okay?" Xorias asked glaring at Tsunade.

"Right."

"He wants to date Sakura. This wouldn't normally be a problem, I would have no objections. But this time around I do," he started.

"Why?"

"Because… I love her. I love her more than anything in this world. I would give my own life to save her own. Every time. So when I hear that someone else is going to date her, I must object. On top of that, I don't think it is a good idea to start with. Should we really trust him?"

"You love her? Does she love you?"

"I don't know…" he said looking down at the floor.

"Will you ask her, or find out?"

"What if she doesn't feel the same way? I can't take that risk until I am more certain of her answer."

"Then, I cannot help you. You will do as I say. If you love her, yet do not want to find out if she loves you, I have no reason to stop this mission or even re-assign it to someone else. You leave tomorrow promptly at eight in the morning."

She shooed him out and returned to writing and doing paperwork.

Xorias closed the door behind him as he sulked out of the room. She was right, but he still couldn't help but feel, well, helpless. he loved her, but did she love him? She didn't return that kiss last night, but she spent so much time with him. He didn't know what to think.

Xorias passed Naruto on the way out. "What's going on, Naruto?" he asked looking for someone to cheer you up.

"I need medicine."

"You sick?"

"No, Hinata is… well, she has morning sickness," he replied.

"Well, congratulations, Naruto," Xorias added smiling.

"I doubt Hinata would be sharing your enthusiasm, though,"

"I never thought that you and Sakura would get together. How is going between you two?"

Xorias nearly choked on his own spit as he was swallowing.

"What the hell are you talking about? She and I aren't together. Who gave you that idea?"

"Hinata told me," he replied shrugging.

"I think that sickness is getting to her head."

"Well, that kiss you two shared has spread like a disease all over the village. Almost everyone knows about it."

"You think I will allow you to date her? My friend?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"You forget… I am ANBU. I outrank you, I don't need your permission to do something."

The rest of the day was uneventful. He hadn't seen Sakura all day. Not that he was wanting to after the last night. He slumped into his bed exhausted. But from what? He was unsure.

Xorias woke the next morning happy, then disappointment seconds later. It's the feeling one gets right after you get up and you are happy for a brief time, then realize it's Monday, or you had something that you forgot about.

He told your squad to meet at the gates the night before. As expected they were all there waiting.

"Sensei, what took you so long?" Koyuke asked.

"I'm actually early. I told you to meet at eight," he replied.

"Damnit, Kimura! I told you eight, but did you listen?!" she yelled as she smacked him upside the head.

"Look, that doesn't matter. We move out now. Let's be on our way," He ordered as he started running out of the village.

About a day and a half had gone by when Xorias and the rest of his team reached the rendezvous point.

There were three men. Two of them looked like they were on steroids, probably the bodyguards. The man in the middle was one of much smaller proportions. His was thin yet a little bit on the stocky side. His black hair extended to about his shoulders.

"Are you Xorias Odamori-Uchiha?" he asked.

'_Uchiha, huh? What did she tell him?_' you thought he nodded his head.

"It would be an honor to be escorted by one of the last surviving members of the Uchiha clan," he said as he bowed his head.

'_He has manners at least.'_

"This is my squad. They will also be joining us on the mission. This one is Koyuke, this is Mina, and this is Kimura," he said pointing to each respective genin.

The man nodded, "My name is Daisuke Furuyama, of the Furuyama clan."

"We need to get going, the longer we stay here, the more prone we are to be attacked," he said as he started walking.

Daisuke's bodyguards didn't follow as they started walking away.

It took much longer to get back. He wasn't a ninja after all…

However, after about two and a half days, the group was nearing the village. They should have been able to reach the village by late afternoon.

If only it had been that easy.

Three men appeared in front of you, almost as intimidating as Daisuke's bodyguards, wearing Sound ninja headbands.

"Give us the politician, and no one gets hurt," one threatened.

"Unfortunately, you I have orders to protect this man. Me first, then him," Xorias warned as he drew his two blades.

One of the men immediately started forming hands signs, "**Earth Style; Earth Prison Jutsu**!" he shouted as earth started to form a bubble around Xorias. His squad gasped as he was suddenly trapped inside the prison of earth, the man holding it together with chakra.

Kimura leapt in front of Daisuke, put his hands together and shouted, "**Fire Style; Fireball Jutsu**!"

Fire shot out of his mouth as the ninja jumped nimbly aside, but he was shocked to see another genin behind him ready to attack. It was Mina. She placed her hands together, even as the man was completing his jump. "**Earth Style; Wall of a Thousand Spikes**!"

She smirked… the man couldn't jump this time. But the smile quickly faded as she saw the other ninja pulling him by the collar away from Mina's wall.

"Be they genin or not, do not let your guard down," one said obviously annoyed that his teammate was almost shown up by a genin.

Mina continued her attack throwing a punch at one of the attackers. It was easily blocked and countered as the ninja lifted his leg up sending Mina flying into a tree knocking her unconscious.

Kimura, enraged placed chakra in his hands. She had been his childhood friend. He used a jutsu that increased his speed exponentially at a staggering rate.

"Rock Lee has been training me for the last few months on the side. Now, the time has come to unveil the results of my training," he said as his body glowed briefly before seeming to disappear.

The attackers were thrown off guard by the sudden chain of events. They frantically looked around for Kimura. One spotted him pointing in the general direction. Of his location. The other took a fighting stance ready to strike as he approached. But Kimura seemed to disappear again. Less than a second later, Kimura appeared in front of the aggressor landing a punch directly under his chin, sending him into the air.

Kimura placed all his limbs on the ground before disappearing again, only to reappear above the "still-airborne" ninja sending a downward kick into his stomach, forcing the ninja to the ground with a loud crash.

The ninja staggered to his feet barely able to stand. Kimura unwrapped part of his bandages, and appeared in front of the half-dazed ninja. He then proceeded to kick the man into the air. Once he was airborne again, Kimura appeared behind the ninja, while he was still recovering the kick. The bandages started to wrap themselves around the attacker, immobilizing him. Kimura started spinning and began spiraling towards the ground.

There was another loud crash as the ninja was knocked out cold and probably was sent into a coma after that.

The other man stood, in complete and utter, disbelief. '_How could a genin possess that much chakra?'_

His expression changed though as Kimura staggered, and nearly collapsed. Mina woke up, still immobilized from her injury.

"It seems your body cannot withstand the effects of that jutsu…"

Kimura's vision started to blur. The ninja saw his chance. He pulled out his serrated sword and swung diagonally, ripping through Kimura's skin. The ninja then kicked him sending him flying literally feet from where Mina had flown.

Blood started to ooze out of the wound as Kimura started to lose consciousness.

"Kimura-kun!" Mina yelled as she crawled.

Mina started crawling over to Kimura, struggling, but inching her way. She couldn't move any farther. Her body wouldn't let her. The force of the kick was too much. She reached out her hand far enough so Kimura could grab it.

"How cute. Now. Time to end this," the ninja said as he placed his hands together.

Kimura yelped in pain from the serrated blade. He looked at her.

"I'm sorry. S-sorry, I c-couldn't protect… y… you. I'm sorry it had to… end like this." His body jerked as blood started gushing even faster than before.

His grip on her hand was loosening. Tears started streaming down her cheeks.

"Kimura-kun!" she screamed, "Don't leave me alone! I beg you! I love you! Please! Stay with me! Don't you die on me!"

"Where is that third brat?" the one holding up the earth prison asked.

"I, l-love… y-you, t-" was all he uttered.

The other one shrugged as he lifted his blade and struck down vertically. Mina's tears were coming down faster. His body jerked violently, causing a scream from Mina, "No! Please!"

The grip was no longer present as Kimura's hand went limp.

There was a loud ringing noise as the attacker gasped.

"Pick on someone your own size. This is clearly an unfair advantage."

"You! How the hell did you…?"

"Xorias!" Daisuke yelled as he saw you standing over the bodies of the two gravely injured genin.

"How did he escape my jutsu?!" the other man yelled. "A clone?"

The prison ninja released the jutsu only to be kicked back about twenty feet and then held still by two blades inches from his neck as Xorias appeared behind him.

"Nicely done, Koyuke," the figure said to the ninja holding the attackers serrated blade from the defenseless genin.

The lead ninja gasped as the figure in front of him disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing Koyuke.

"What the…?" he said in disbelief.

Koyuke placed chakra into her hands and said, "**Ninja Art; Shadow Possession Jutsu**," as a shadow came forth and trapped the man rendering his movement impossible.

"You don't take us Konoha ninja seriously enough. I knew it would work. I had to merely seem like Xorias, so the other ninja over there would drop the jutsu to check."

"Damnit… shown up by a genin…"

"You may take us for pushovers, but I am different. You have put my friends in danger, and when you do that, I will make you suffer!" she said as she started a new jutsu.

"**Secret Art; True Shadow Binding Jutsu**!"

"Shit! What the hell? My breath! The shadow is-"

Those were the last words that he uttered as the shadow clamped itself around his neck and strangled him instantly.

The remaining ninja gasped as his leader's life was ended… permanently.

Xorias smirked as he moved his hands, slicing the blades through his neck killing the man on the spot.

He and Koyuke raced over to the other genin. Mina was in tears as her head lay on top of Kimura's chest.

"What happened?"

"He risked his life to save me. He died so that I could live. He knew the jutsu would leave him weak. But he did it anyway," she said through her tears.

Xorias placed two fingers on his neck, feeling no pulse. He placed his hands together.

"I'll do what I can. As soon as I am done, we need to get him to the hospital."

His hands started to glow a bright green as he placed them over the largest, deepest part of the wound. The blood was still flowing freely.

After he did what he could with the healing jutsu, Xorias turned to Koyuke.

"Take Mina. She is less injured. Travel with Daisuke back to the village. I am going to race back to the hospital. We can still save him if I hurry."

With that, he raced off. Though he had stopped the bleeding, Xoeias didn't have the expertise that Sakura did. The cut was still deep and his condition, critical.

After about ten minutes, he reached the village gates. "Get me Tsunade, Shizune, Sakura! Anyone with medical expertise! We have a critical situation!"

Tsunade was in the area fortunately and she took Xorias and the wounded genin to the hospital.

Shortly thereafter, Koyuke and the others had arrived, also going to the hospital immediately.

The room was cleared except for a few medical ninja and Xorias.

Tsunade started talking with absolute certainty, "Take the shirt off. We can't afford any clothing to get inside his body. That would be worse than the wound itself."

Sakura and another ninja forcibly ripped off his shirt. It looked much worse than Xorias thought. The serrated blade has ripped through the skin as well as puncturing a lung slightly.

He activated his Sharingan. He needed to analyze the medical jutsu.

Tsunade starting talking as she was operating, "What the hell happened?"

"We were ambushed, and I was captured inside an earth prison. It was all because of Koyuke, that any of the squad members are alive at all right now. However, notably, the one who did this to Kimura was clearly an amateur."

"Do tell," she replied as she used another jutsu healing another part if his wound.

"Look at the cut. It's serrated. He sliced diagonally. Every good swordsman knows that if you want to kill someone using a serrated blade, you stab, you don't slice. Stabbing does much more damage to the body and this makes it more painful."

"Do you think it was the Council of Lorii?"

"Not at this point, no. This one was an amateur. They know they need top notch ninja to take me down. This may have been a random occurrence. They were after the politician, not me."

He left and entered the room containing Mina. Shizune was working with her.

"How is she?"

"She's fine. Her injuries were bad but not life threatening. She has a few broken bones and a mild concussion, but other than that, she's perfectly healthy. But she seems to be more worried about her squad mate. She hasn't stopped crying since I got here."

He left the room and sat outside both rooms which were adjacent to each other. After a few hours of sweating and much praying, Tsunade came out of the room. Xorias stood up immediately.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Yes, he's going to be fine…" she said smiling.

Xorias let out a huge sigh of relief.

"I wasn't able to do anything. My healing had no effect…" he said as he hung his head.

"Actually, it was your healing that saved him. Had you not healed him, he would have died from blood loss. So in reality, you saved his life."

His spirits were lifted. "Thank you, Lady Hokage," he said as she left the room.

Xorias stepped into Mina's room. "Sensei! Is… is he alright?"

He smiled and nodded his head. She started crying again.

"Damnit Xorias… you know how long it took me to get her to stop, and look what you've done…" Shizune said as she sighed.

Mina turned to get out of bed. She got up and grabbed her side.

"What are you doing? You are still injured!" Shizune yelled.

She kept going out of the room and went into Kimura's. She sat down beside his bed. He was unconscious, but breathing. She ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair.

For three days, she sat by his bed, not moving except for meals.

Daisuke was at the hospital for most of the time. He seemed to be concerned for the genin who saved his life. So he hadn't met Sakura yet, much to the relief of a certain ANBU ninja.

Finally after three days, Kimura woke up. "Kimura-kun… you're awake," Mina said.

"My head hurts…" he said as went to rub it. But the pain was too great. The wound wasn't fully healed yet.

"I thought I had lost you. Don't scare me like that, Kimura-kun…" she laughed as tears started to run down her cheeks. She leaned down and planted her lips on his for a passionate first kiss.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you, too. I promise not to leave you like that again."

She wiped the tears away. "That's what I like to hear," she said as she pulled him in for another kiss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Here, lay him on the table," one man said.

Two people lifted the man's limp and bloody body onto the table.

"He really did a number on him. This may prove to be difficult," another said.

The group of ten people sat in a circle and placed their hands in the serpent form. All the hands in the room started to glow a bright green, lighting up the dark room.

The ceremony took nearly two hours. They were lucky they recovered his body when they did. They couldn't get to the others in time to do the jutsu. Everyone in the room released the jutsu. Causing the man in the middle of the room to stir.

The man sat up. He laughed maniacally as he looked around at his comrades.

One spoke up, "It is good to have you back… Durei-sama."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

__

How was it? Didn't really intend to go past 4.5k words but the wheels started turning in my head again and well, 6k is what happened.

I can't improve my stories if I don't have people that review them. Please and thank you.


	9. Espionage?

****

Never Surrender

__

Here is chapter nine. This is my first fan fiction, so please review and let me know what you think so far. The end is in sight. I will probably end it in about three or four more chapters. Enjoy!

"Sakura, you have to trust me. Please he is dangerous, you must believe me," Xorias pleaded nearly on his hands and knees.

"Xorias, please, you are making this hard on me. Don't let your jealousy cloud the sharp mind I have always accredited you with."

"Jealousy?! I'm… you think I'm jealous?! Sakura, you have always trusted me! Why can't you see, Daisuke is trying to deceive you. Why won't you trust me?" he pressed.

She was blank. She thought she knew everything about the situation. But this question threw her off guard.

"Sakura, I want you to be happy, but your safety is more important to me than anything, so when your safety is jeopardized…"

"Can you offer any proof?"

"I… no… not yet."

"Then this conversation is done. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Defeated, mentally, physically, and emotionally, Xorias trudged back to Naruto's house. He had to find proof.

****

Two weeks earlier

Xorias saw Sakura walking to the Hokage's office. This was the day… the day he would tell her how he felt about her. This way, maybe her relationship between her and the Sound politician wouldn't have to happen.

He walked up behind her. "Sakura…"

She turned to face who called her name.

"Oh, Xorias… hey, how are you?"

"I need to talk to you. Are you busy? Never, if you need to talk to me about something. What is it?"

Xorias and Sakura sat down on a nearby bench as she asked you what was wrong.

"I want to talk about Christmas night."

She blushed in plain view of Xorias.

"Look," he started, "I don't want a stupid kiss to ruin our relationship. You are an amazing friend, and I don't want to lose you as such."

She looked down at her feet. _'The kiss wasn't stupid.'_

"Okay? Can we forget that it ever happened. I don't want to ever lose you, especially over something as trivial as a kiss because of tradition."

She seemed to think for a minute. She didn't want to forget her first kiss. It symbolized so many things. She oh so reluctantly agreed after Xorias smiled and took his hand in hers.

__

'This is it.'

"Sakura, I need to tell you something. I…"

"Yes?"

"I…" he said, forcing himself to utter those three words.

"Sakura Haruno…" there was another voice.

She turned her head to see Daisuke Furuyama.

"Oh Daisuke… hi."

"Am I interrupting?" he asked, worried he bothered something.

There was a pause, then Xorias stood up.

__

'There was no stopping it. I can't do anything about it. I just have to accept it.'

"…No. You weren't," Xorias said, disappointment in his voice, as he walked off.

__

'What did he want to say?' Sakura thought as she watched him walk away, then turning to Daisuke as he went around the corner.

"The Hokage must have informed you of the situation. I will do what I can to make you as happy as possible. I hate to see my girlfriend unhappy."

Sakura thought to herself, _'But I would be happy with Xorias. Though you might try, you can't bring as much joy and happiness as he does.'_

"However, I have arranged with Tsunade-sama, that I will not interfere with your friendship with Xorias-san."

Sakura felt better. At least they could still see each other and be friends.

Daisuke took Sakura by the hand and pulled her up to him as kissed her lightly. Unbeknownst to both Sakura and the politician, Xorias had been watching around the corner. Xorias then proceeded in slamming his fist into the wall next to him.

About a week later, the relationship between Xorias and Sakura had taken a turn for the worse. The closer Daisuke got to Sakura, the farther Xorias got from Sakura. After seeing Daisuke and Sakura kiss that day, the less he started to see her. Xorias had only seen her three times in the last week.

Naruto and Hinata had tried to cheer him up, but nothing seemed to work. The life that Xorias had, the energy he had possessed merely weeks earlier seemed to disappear. Even on missions, the genin on his team noticed something was wrong. And with the near death experience that Kimura went through, which lead eventually to the relationship between Mina and Kimura, only made things worse for him. It seemed to Xorias that everyone but him was involved in a relationship.

He had come to face the facts with that long ago and he learned to accept it, but every now and then he longed to be in such a relationship, even though he would never show it to anyone. It was the simple fact that he didn't want anyone to be in a relationship out of pure sympathy and obligation. He wanted to be with someone that was with him for who he was, not because they felt obligated to do so.

The Hokage had sent Xorias on a mission with Naruto to the outskirts of the Fire Country where reports had spotted an A-Rank criminal in the ANBU bingo book, which ended in disaster as the family Xorias were ordered to protect was brutally murdered and the criminal got away. Mission after mission ended horribly since Daisuke had gotten together with Sakura. Three days after your latest mission Tsunade has requested his presence.

The Hokage had taken notice of the low point Xorias had hit.

"What is up with you lately, Xorias?" she asked after Xorias had walked into her office.

"I don't know," he replied completely emotionless.

"Ever since Daisuke came to this village, your progress has seemed to backtrack… I knew you were going to be sad, but this… this is unexpected."

Anger flared within Xorias, "You were the one who assigned the mission to me! You were the one who okayed the relationship between the Sound politician and Sakura! I have had to live with it, because you said I had to! This is your fault, not mine!"

The Hokage, placed her hands together. She wanted to hear what he had to say. She didn't refute anything Xorias said.

"You should have known that this would happen! You knew that if someone else was with Sakura, it would negatively affect me!"

The Hokage had to say something, "Sakura can choose who she wants to be with. It doesn't have to be you…" she said quietly.

"But that's the point! She didn't choose! You chose for her! Is that fair to me or her?!"

Tsunade shrugged as he continued.

"You could have chosen anyone in this village, why her?! Why Sakura?!"

The question had throw her off guard, "What did you just say?"

"Why her?!"

"I… I don't know…"

He stopped, all anger towards her gone, "What do you mean, I don't know?"

"You asked a good question. When the father of the politician told me he was coming to date, he told me he was going to date my apprentice. At the time, I took it without question. The thought didn't even cross my mind. I guess I was just so worried about easing the tension between out two countries, I didn't think about it. But when you asked why, I started thinking. I will think on this more. It may be nothing, but I'll look into it."

Xorias nodded his thanks and left the office.

__

'Tsunade-sama is right. I need to find out why they chose her.'

As Xorias entered Naruto's house, Sakura was sitting on the couch. Naruto looked up at him and left the room saying, "I'll give you two time alone."

There was a deadly silence. Then Sakura spoke up, "Look, Xorias, I…"

"No. I'm sorry, for everything. I just don't want to see you get hurt. This man may be dangerous."

"Dangerous? I hardly think so. He's kind. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me."

"But I…"

"Tell me this; Is there any reason? Give me one reason why I should not date this man."

She had to know how he felt. If he harbored any feelings for her.

"I…"

"Yes?" Her voice was calm as she leaned in closer.

"I can't…"

Sakura was crushed. He didn't love her?

"Fine…" she said, a single tear running down her cheek as she slammed the door on her way out.

Naruto and Hinata came around the corner of the room and walked over to Xorias.

"You know, if you keep this up, you are going to lose her… forever…" Naruto said.

Xorias placed his face in his hands and then ran his fingers through his hair.

The three ninja heard a noise. Naruto and Hinata turned to see a hooded man, in a robe worn commonly by the Council of Lorii. Naruto leapt at the man and Hinata activated her Byakugan.

"Stop!" Xorias shouted.

Naruto and Hinata stopped and turned to you.

"But he is one of the Council members!" Naruto protested.

"Is he attacking you?"

Naruto and Hinata were dumbfounded.

"Right." Hinata said.

"This is Fokuske. Childhood friend and my inside man on the Council's whereabouts and their doings…"

"When were you going to tell us?"

"Not sure… probably not until the Council had found out, which they haven't at this point I assume."

Fokuske spoke up, "He speaks the truth, however, I have disturbing news. About a week ago, the Council resurrected someone. Someone they should have left dead, if you ask me."

"Who? Who did they resurrect?" Xorias asked intently.

Fokuske stood horrified about what he was saying next, "Larza's right hand man… Durei."

Xorias, Naruto, and Hinata, gasped in horror.

Naruto then spoke up, "But, Fokuske, Xorias blew a hole in him with his Chidori. There's no way…"

"No, he is more real than you know. And he is pissed after what you did to him, Xorias."

"I need to get out of here and get back to the Council, before they find me gone."

Wait, before you go!" Xorias said.

"What is it?"

"I need you to find something out. I need dirt on that Sound politician. I talked with the Hokage and she doesn't know why he picked Sakura as the one he was going to date."

Fokuske seeing the sadness and desperation in his eyes, was more than willing to help, "Of course, I will see what I can do…" he said as he disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After another day had gone by, Sakura had passed several of her friends.

"Sakura, come here." Ino demanded.

Sakura obeyed and slowly walked over to the girls.

"What is it?"

"We need to talk, all of us."

Ten Ten spoke up next, "It's about Xorias…"

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay."

"No, not okay," Ten Ten shot back obviously angry, "What the hell is wring with you?"

"What do you mean?" she asked defensively.

"I know you are dating the politician, but people keep telling me you are embracing this change fully. What happened to your love for Xorias?!"

"You don't think I love him? I love him more than anything, but if we are going to release the tensions between our village and the Sound's, I have to make it look like I care…"

"But you have been blowing him off when he asks to go somewhere with you. And you know what, if you truly love him, you will understand how he feels."

"How the hell should I know, he doesn't exactly reveal much."

"He does more so around you than us…"

"Look, I just need to get through this until the politician goes and then everything will go back to normal and-"

"You think when he leaves, poof, everything will go back to normal?!" Ten Ten started, "You have hurt him, and hurt him deeply. You have blown him off for this politician and even though it is merely business like, you show like you don't care about him anymore!"

"But…" she protested.

"He has always been there for you, given you a shoulder to cry on! Damnit Sakura, he put his own life on the line to rescue yours! What have you done for him?! Huh?! Did you get him anything for Christmas?"

"No…"

"Did he seem to notice, or if he did, did he care?"

"No…"

"Great friends do that sometimes. Pay more attention to him. He has given you his life, don't step on it." Ino spoke up.

Sakura merely walked away, acknowledging what they had said.

A few days later, brought more sadness, and more suspicion of the politician. He started to spend a lot of time with the military, and talking walks around the village. Sakura had told Xorias he started to take up painting. This only made it worse for him.

You decided to confront Sakura one more time.

You found Sakura at the marketplace wandering looking for food for lunch.

"Sakura?"

She turned around.

"Oh, hi."

"What will it take me to convince you he may be dangerous?"

"You can't. I told you before, there's nothing wrong. He's sweet, funny, nice, and he would never hurt me," she said starting to get angry.

"Sakura, you have to trust me. Please he is dangerous, you must believe me," Xorias pleaded nearly on his hands and knees.

"Xorias, please, you are making this hard on me. Don't let your jealousy cloud the sharp mind I have always accredited you with."

"Jealousy?! I'm… you think I'm jealous?! Sakura, you have always trusted me! Why can't you see, Daisuke is trying to deceive you. Why won't you trust me?" he pressed.

She was blank. She thought she knew everything about the situation. But this question threw her off guard.

"Sakura, I want you to be happy, but your safety is more important to me than anything, so when your safety is jeopardized…"

"Can you offer any proof?"

"I… no… not yet."

"Then this conversation is done. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

As if on cue, Daisuke walked up to Sakura, kissed her and then turned to you as she walked away, smirking.

Defeated, mentally, physically, and emotionally, Xorias trudged back to Naruto's house. He had to find proof.

As he approached the house, he saw Fokuske leaning against the door.

"They aren't home. I wondered where you were."

"Oh, hey."

"I have some information on the Sound politician. Apparently there is nothing suspicious about him. He has been a long time supporter of an alliance between the Leaf and the Sound."

"What about why he chose Sakura. Did you find anything about that?"

"That, too. They chose her because she worked directly underneath Tsunade, nothing more. Whatever your hunch was, it is probably incorrect."

"Yeah, you're right. I was foolish," he started as he placed his face in his hands, "Maybe I _am_ just jealous of Daisuke…" you said as you started walking away.

"Daisuke?"

You stopped immediately and turned to Fokuske.

"…The Sound politician? You know, the one that's dating Sakura?" Xorias replied.

"There is no politician named Daisuke… I've been keeping tabs on a Yumi Hagarashi."

"That's bad. We've been talking about different people this whole time."

"Then my suspicions may not be misplaced as I assumed. I need more info. Thanks for the help, Fokuske."

Xorias darted off to the village housing district. He knew that she would be spending time with Daisuke. As if on cue, the two of them left a house a few hundred feet from his position on a roof of a nearby house. They were neatly dressed, probably going on a date again.

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'This is the perfect opportunity.'

As they walked out of sight, the Uchiha leapt from the roof and opened the door to the apartment that was being rented to Daisuke. It was dusk, so it was harder to see, but still good enough to see most of the things in the room.

As he looked around the room he spotted paintings that he had created, mostly of places around the city, nothing really of note. He kept looking chancing upon sundries of his, letters from loved ones, and the like. He ran his fingers through his hair frustrated.

__

'There has to be something here…'

Just then, he glanced upon papers almost completely invisible except for the fact that they were sticking out, barely, under a small crack in the floor. He looked around that area and eventually found the latch for the small floorboard. He grabbed the papers that were under the floorboard and looked at them.

__

'More paintings… wait no.'

Xorias walked back to the paintings that were framed earlier. He looked at both sets and deduced that the paintings under the floorboard were copies of the framed ones.

"Why would he do that? What does he gain from all this?"

Suddenly, memories flashed of missions with other ANBU members or his genin squad. They would usually look at a map before going on such missions.

Catching on, Xorias went back to looking, connecting the dots as he searched. He went back to Daisuke's letters. As he fumbled through various ones, he saw something that looked suspicious. It was to his father. Xorias remembered Sakura saying something to him that he didn't have a father. His was killed long ago.

Xorias opened the letter. It was blank, there wasn't anything written. Something was up. There was something he didn't want people to know. Xorias took a piece of paper from the room and covered the letter. He used pressure from his hands and water to find the markings of the letter and other characters written on the page. He looked around and found some ink by the letter stack and started covering the outline of the characters. There it was. What he didn't want anyone to know.

It read:

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Orochimaru-sama,

__

I have successfully infiltrated Konoha and am dating Sakura as you ordered. Attached are photos of the newly updated features of Konoha's defense. Your plan to tear them apart has worked.

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My presence may not be as smooth as you hoped. There is one ninja of Konoha who is suspicious of me and has openly addressed it. Xorias-Odamori Uchiha. Hopefully he finds no evidence of my scheming.

__

Nonetheless, the attack can be moved up to three days from now. I know it is completely earlier from when it was scheduled from two weeks ago, but with the Uchiha suspicious and his sharp mind, we may not have the element of surprise for much longer. I will eliminate the members of the legion of Konoha to help make your entry much smoother and the resistance less. 

__

See you then,

Your faithful servant,

Daisuke Furuyama

Everything came down like an anvil on Xorias.

"That was his plan all along. To tear me apart from Sakura so that anything I told Sakura, she would toss aside assuming I was jealous. And he's planning to attack the legion in three days time. But his letter was written two days ago… no! He's attacking tomorrow!"

"Orochimaru attacks tomorrow!"

He had spent that entire night in the apartment and he didn't come home. He must have been at Sakura's house. It was dawn.

He was tired but he couldn't stop now. Thankfully he had dozed a little bit the day before.

He had to warn Sakura.

As he approached her house, her mother opened the door.

"Oh, Xorias, nice morning isn't?"

"Mrs. Haruno, this is an emergency I need to find Sakura! Where is she?"

"She went with Daisuke to the legion, she told me he had business there."

"Oh no, it's already started…"

__

'There's no time to warn the Hokage, I need to do this myself…'

Xorias leapt away darting for the legion base in the city.

He saw Sakura pacing the outside of the legion barracks.

"Sakura!"

She turned, "Oh, Xorias, don't tell me that he is a dangerous man. I won't hear anymore…"

"I have proof!"

She stopped on the spot, "Proof?"

"Yes, I was in his apartment after you two left last night and found a letter to Orochimaru attached to photos of paintings that he had sent off to Orochimaru. He always kept copies of everything. He was painting because he was examining our strengths and weaknesses of the village. He's attacking today, Orochimaru is attacking today. He's going to take out the legion! You must believe me! Check the house if you wish! I left it on the bed! He's been trying to tear our friendship apart. He knows I am weak without you. He manipulated that fact and has defeated us. We need to stop him together."

Sakura stood dumbfounded. She didn't know what to believe.

After much delay he started again, "You may not believe me, but your safety is more important to me than your approval. I will protect you with my life, whether you know if or not."

He disappeared into the legion base. Sakura started walking to the house.

As you reached the training grounds at the center of the complex, you noticed hundred of dead bodies, all with slash marks.

The captain of the legion was fighting a robed warrior, wounded in many places. Xorias deduced it was Daisuke and moved in. Daisuke had just knocked the captain's sword away, and was slicing down when there was a loud ring as Daisuke was forced back.

He looked up to see a very angry ANBU Uchiha glaring at him.

"So you finally caught on to me have you? I expect nothing less from an Uchiha…"

Xorias raised his two blades in a challenging pose, "Daisuke Furuyama… this will be your final resting place. Beg your God for mercy, for you shall receive none from me…"

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Thought that was a good stopping place. Part 1 of Konoha's Solemn Hour coming soon. Hope you've enjoyed the story so far.


	10. Konoha's Solemn Hour Pt 1

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Never Surrender

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Alright, here is Part One of Konoha's Solemn Hour. I will be tying everything together within these next few chapters. Enjoy! This is where my unique characteristic comes in. Some say there is a sixth chakra element. Mine? Read and find out. No one will guess.

Daisuke accepted. Fortunately for Xorias, he had never seen him in combat. Technically once, but it was barely a fight. The fight right before Daisuke came to the village.

Daisuke raised his blade and struck down vertically. Xorias parried easily and thrust his other sword causing Daisuke to leap backwards. He lunged at the Uchiha again to no avail, only leaving himself open to attack. Xorias saw the opportunity and swiped at a recovering Daisuke, slicing into his clothing, but not contacting with flesh.

Xorias continued by rolling his left wrist and slicing his blade at his feet and then finishing the combo by rolling his other wrist and spinning the blade at his upper torso, making small nicks with both simultaneous strikes.

Daisuke grunted as he charged in. Xorias sidestepped and swung at him again, only to be blocked, just in time by Daisuke. He rolled into the fall and moved in again. He swung vertically again. Xorias blocked with both swords. He brought the swords that were interlinked with each other down to about chest level and a battle of brute strength ensued.

Xorias flicked his wrist as he was being pushed back slightly and flung the blade out of his hands, then whipping his leg in front of him kicking Daisuke back about fifteen feet.

"This could prove to be difficult. Time to level the playing field," Daisuke stated as he pricked his thumb, making hand signs shortly thereafter. "**Summoning Jutsu**!"

Xorias was thrown off guard as a four-armed warrior, a sword in each hand, appeared in front of Daisuke.

"I thought you weren't a ninja…"

"A true ninja doesn't let on much. Now… attack!"

The dark-haired, light-skinned, warrior lunged at Xorias, only to miss as Xorias rolled away, then taking a swing, only to be blocked by one of the many swords that the warrior possessed.

Xorias moved in, both blades spinning wildly, parrying and attacking with finesse. The only thing that prevented him from utter victory; the four arms that he had to deal with. He had to get rid of some of them to even the fight.

The warrior attacked with two blades, but Xorias was quicker and blocked with ease. The warrior wasn't through as he thrust the remaining two blades at Xorias. Xorias lifted his legs and kicked the warrior to send them both back. Xorias used the momentum to escape the blades.

Xorias saw only one way at this point. He had to take a hit… deliberately. The warrior charged and thrust one blade at Xorias. Xorias moved back slightly to reduce the risk of a fatal blow. The blade entered Xorias, a painful groan escaping from him. Blood started to drip from the blade. Luckily it was only an inch or two in. Xorias thought correctly. The warrior let his guard down as he raised his other three blades for the finishing blow, as Xorias grabbed the handle on the blade lodged in him and swung upwards as he pulled it out, sending the warrior to the ground. Xorias took one of his blades and drove the blade into the warrior that was on the ground.

"How in the hell…?"

"You underestimate an ANBU…"

Xorias then fell to one knee as he grabbed his wound painfully. He gritted his teeth enduring the pain. His hand started glowing green as he was healing the wound.

"What the hell are you? That was a deadly poison. You should be dead now…"

Xorias picked up his blades and pointed one at Daisuke, "The real fight starts now… you shall now feel the true power of the Sharingan!" he shouted as Xorias activated his Sharingan.

"Come, Daisuke Furuyama… I… will be the _last_ thing in your way."

Xorias moved in, slicing in and around him, with Daisuke barely dodging or blocking each one.

__

'Damn, he's faster than before.'

There was a loud boom as Xorias whipped his head briefly to see what it was.

"You don't have the luxury to do that…!" Daisuke shouted as he saw his chance.

He swung his serrated blade and contacted, ripping through flesh, and causing Xorias to be thrown back from the momentum of the swing. Xorias grabbed his arm in pain as blood started to run freely. Daisuke attempted to drive sword through the Uchiha's heart, but Xorias rolled away as he drove it into the ground. Xorias rolled back towards Daisuke kicking the blade from his hands as he was holding the sword.

Now, without his sword, Daisuke moved in, moving irregularly. He threw a punch at Xorias from his side. Xorias blocked it but wasn't prepared for the sudden leg sweep, knocking him from his feet. Xorias kicked up sending Daisuke flying, from his prone position.

Xorias' swords were far from him and he didn't have time to get them.

Both ninja stood facing each other, panting, waiting for the other to strike. Xorias made his move.

He started moving his hands together, "**Fire Style; Phoenix Flower Jutsu**!"

Daisuke jumped aside nimbly. But Xorias had more than one trick up his sleeve, as he moved his fingers revealing hidden strings, moving the fireballs to his will. Doing so ignited the string quickly burning its length. Xorias managed to wrap the flaming string around Daisuke before cutting the wire to prevent burn to himself.

Daisuke fell to the ground, burned to a crisp. Xorias was take aback when the body disappeared. As he was about to turn his head, he felt a sharp pain in his lower back as a kunai penetrated his skin just missing his spine. Daisuke was holding the kunai there as he drove it deeper, causing Xorias to wince in pain.

"Xorias Odamori-Uchiha… your death is fast approaching, as is that of this pitiful village."

Daisuke leapt back a few feet throwing many more shuriken and kunai, all hitting their mark as Xorias dropped to his knees, coughing up blood.

Daisuke picked up Xorias' blade, "Strange… death by one's own blade. Must be humiliating."

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'Is this… how I am to meet my end?'

Daisuke lifted the blade. The ground shook as Daisuke swung, messing with his accuracy, but still contacting with flesh causing a large gash, as Xorias fell to the ground. Daisuke was sent flying into the building, knocking him unconscious.

"Xorias!" It was Sakura.

Badly injured, he couldn't respond, as he was face down on the ground.

She ran over to him. She started pulling all of the kunai and shuriken out of his back, then flipped him over, laying him on her legs as she squatted.

He looked up at Sakura as he laughed coughing up a little blood, "Told… told you s-so…"

"Xorias… Xorias? Xorias, no! Come back… come on, this is no time for jokes. Don't do this to me, I can't live without you! Don't you dare leave me! I'm sorry I didn't trust you, you were right all along… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… and now… look at what I've done… I'm about to lose my best friend, because I was blind, please come back, don't leave me!"

Sakura elevated his body and wrapped her arms around him, still sobbing. His body jerked as blood started to flow much more freely. He cried in pain, causing her to shriek as well, saying to him, "No! Don't do this to me! Please, don't leave me alone!"

Sakura took his hand in hers, and held on tight.

Tears started flowing as he whispered to her, "Sakura… I-I told you… I would protect you, whether you knew it… whether you knew it or not. I forgive you…"

Sakura ran her fingers through his hair as she smiled.

"But I realized it too late…"

"It's… it's okay… don't worry about it…"

"Don't worry? I'm about to lose my best friend because I was too late!"

Xorias was about to respond when Sakura shrieked as a sword was driven through Sakura. Xorias opened his eyes fully, shocked beyond belief. He turned his head, no matter how painful it was, to see Daisuke standing. Sakura fell to the ground as she trembled.

A deep emotion, that Xorias had kept at bay, and never showed, resurfaced. He had discovered a new found anger. His life was no longer important. Sakura was innocent and had done nothing to deserve it. Hatred burning in his eyes, he willed his body to move. He was never giving up… he was never going to surrender.

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"Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade looked up from her daily paperwork, to see a hooded figure.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Fokuske. A member of the Council of Lorii…"

She stood up immediately and started yelling, "Guards!"

"Wait!"

She motioned the guards to stop as they entered the room.

"I have been acting as a spy for Xorias Odamori-Uchiha against the Council. I have disturbing news! The Council of Lorii will be attacking today, within the hour!"

Tsunade started horrified.

"That politician you made Sakura get together with was a double agent. He's been in cahoots with Orochimaru all along. Xorias is fighting him now!"

"What about Orochimaru? Will the Sound Village attack?"

"No. They would be open to attack from the Sand Village. Orochimaru didn't have time to assemble his men. But the Council has many allies… mercenaries, bounty hunters, private contractors…"

"I will launch an emergency mission! Go to Xorias!"

He nodded his head as he disappeared out of the building.

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Daisuke's look turned to utter astonishment as Xorias stood up, as injured as he was.

"You! You will pay for what you have done! Your life, your ambition, your treacherous ways… they all end here! You have endangered her life for the last time!"

Daisuke took a step back horrified.

__

'His eyes!! His eyes have changed! How the hell…?!'

Xorias darted forward, and before Daisuke had a chance to react, the Uchiha was at his throat holding him in the air with his left hand.

"You have put on the line… the life of the one I love! You have screwed with me for the last time! You will never harm another innocent soul ever again!"

Without making any hand signs, Xorias formed Chidori in his right hand. Daisuke screamed in excruciating pain as Xorias thrust his Chidori into his heart, ending his life.

Daisuke went limp and Xorias staggered over to Sakura. His strength gone he collapsed to his knees and then falling down over Sakura's body.

__

'At least her warmth is the last thing I will feel.'

Darkness took Xorias and Sakura alike.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"There they are!"

A group of ninja leapt for Xorias and Sakura.

"I just hope we aren't too late…" one said.

"Xorias… Xorias, can you hear me? It's Fokuske… I've brought the Medical Corps…"

He didn't respond. The ninja brought two stretchers. One for Sakura, and one for Xorias.

The ninja started healing Sakura's wound, while another worked on Xorias.

After a minute or so, Sakura regained consciousness .

"It's okay, you'll be okay, it was deep, but we stopped the bleeding…"

"What about Xorias? Is he okay? It was only shuriken…"

"It's not the shuriken, it the poison. There was a deadly poison that was destroying all of his inner cells. It's not one we've seen before. He's probably using a forbidden technique used by Orochimaru. He's in critical condition. We need to get him to the hospital right away."

Sakura started, "I won't ever get to tell him how I feel, will I?"

"Don't count him out yet. He's strong… he can make it. I know he can…"

"Please, save him, I can't live without him…"

"I'll do what I can…"

Everyone started moving. Sakura and Xorias on stretchers and the rest on foot to the hospital. Sakura reached her hand out and grabbed Xorias' hand, holding it tightly, "I'm here, Xorias… I'm not leaving you."

Xorias and the others arrived at the hospital, to see Shizune and Tsunade waiting there.

"Lady Hokage… what is it?"

"The Council and that of its allies will be attacking within the next thirty minutes. I am reassigning you to squads. I will join the fight as well. Shizune, you are in charge of the hospital. There will be lots of injured. I trust you to take care of it."

Shizune merely nodded her head as she and other medical ninja darted off. Shizune then turned to Fokuske and ordered him to place them in the same room.

"Sakura, are you alright?"

"Yeah, the wound is painful, but I can manage. But its not me I'm worried about him…" she said as she pointed to Xorias.

"Xorias?!"

Shizune hadn't even recognized him when he came in. Seeing him beaten up like this tore her apart.

"Who did this to him?"

"Daisuke… the one I was dating for the sake of our village…"

Shizune stood open mouthed.

"Xorias killed him, but at a terrible price. I noticed however before I lost consciousness that he formed Chidori without hand signs. That's not possible…"

"Why do you think that was?"

"I'm not sure…"

There was a loud explosion nearby as Shizune whipped her head and saw a cloud of dark smoke encompass the northern side of the village.

"It's them… the Council of Lorii…"

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"Get ready!" Kakashi ordered as ninja of all rank got in positions.

Mercenaries began entering the city, hundreds of them, storming the village gate. Ninja and mercenary clashed, both as deadly as the other.

Naruto and Hinata were fighting back to back against waves and waves of mercenaries. They didn't seem to stop coming. But the ninja were on short supply. It seemed they only had so many.

Kakashi ducked as a mercenary swung at him. Kakashi rolled and threw a kunai, lodging itself in the mercenaries neck. As he got up, another mercenary lunged form behind. Kakashi couldn't avoid it. But the mercenary was thrown in another direction.

There stood Might Guy in his shining green spandex, that stupid smile and thumbs up taking notice.

"Kakashi, my greatest rival, cannot fall yet…"

"I look forward to many more challenges, I will not die here…" he responded.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru was having much better luck. Shikamaru has just trapped about twenty mercenaries.

One piped up smirking, "What are you going to do now?"

"Not me…" Shikamaru retorted, "him."

Choji appeared behind the mercenaries.

"**Expansion Jutsu**!"

Choji's arm expanded as he swiped at all the mercenaries killing all of them.

Elsewhere in the battle, the overall progress was not good. Konoha had lost its trump card, and they were suffering because of it.

Kiba had been badly injured by one of the leaders of the mercenaries, and many other genin were being killed.

"Where is the Hokage?!" Guy shouted.

Just then, there was a large puff of smoke behind the main group of mercenaries. She had summoned her giant slug, and then the frog Sannin appeared as well. The tide of the battle may have been turned by two people. Or at the very least, so they had hoped…

Fokuske was taking down mercenaries faster than most. Only sustaining minor injuries, he was able to hold off the mercenaries and prevented them from reaching the hospital.

The Medical Corps was working double time to get wounded ninja to the hospital. The battle has to change… and fast, otherwise, Konoha would be destroyed.

Fokuske dodged as a mercenary sliced at him. He lunged at him, cutting the mercenary down. He parried as another lunged at him. He blocked high and broke the stalemate by suddenly slicing down, killing him.

Sakura responded, dismay in her voice, "And we have lost our greatest advantage against them…" as she looked at Xorias' body.

Shizune called for medical ninja. "We need to perform a very powerful jutsu. From what the Medical Corps told me, it's a deadly poison. I need to find out what this is…"

As Shizune searched for answers, more and more explosions started to occur.

"What the…?"

"What is it Shizune?"

"This poison… I've seen it before…"

"What do you mean… this is a forbidden jutsu that Orochimaru is behind. You shouldn't know what it is…"

"I know I've seen it somewhere before… but where?"

Just then, Xorias' team walked in the door.

"What are you doing here?! The village is being attacked, we need all able bodies fighting!" Shizune yelled.

"That's the point… we hadn't seen Xorias… now we know…" Koyuke said.

Shizune looked at them. She saw Kimura standing next to Mina, holding hands.

"That's it! That's where I've seen it before!"

Sakura was confused.

"It's Kimura! A little while ago, when Daisuke had first come to the village, Kimura had a large wound, and he had been poisoned. That was the same poison as before."

"Then that means…" Sakura started.

"That means the attackers that day, weren't targeting Daisuke, they were targeting Xorias. They merely did that to help Xorias trust Daisuke more. Come to think of it, they could have easily killed Daisuke without letting their presence be known…"

Shizune prepared a jutsu that would heal the poison. As she cleared his body of the poison, Xorias opened his eyes, and jerked, shouting.

"Xorias, it's okay… it's Shizune…" she turned to Sakura, "It doesn't seem like he's conscious… it may be a knee-jerk reaction in which… what the hell?"

"What is it?"

"Look, look at Xorias' eyes…" Sakura grabbed her wound painfully as she staggered to Xorias. His squad also gathered around him.

Sakura stared into his eyes, and nearly had a heart attack.

"My God… it's… it's…"

"It is, Sakura, it's a fourth wheel…"

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The Four-Wheel Sharingan! If anyone read my profile, they would have read that I had an element that made my story unique. Well, this is it… how do like it? Surprising? Konoha's Solemn Hour Part 2 coming soon. Two more chapters left and eleven days until the release of the sequel, "A New Age."


	11. Konoha's Solemn Hour Pt 2

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Never Surrender

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Part 2 of Konoha's Solemn Hour. Tell me how you liked or disliked the idea of a fourth wheel of the Sharingan. Remember, April 18th, chapter 1 of "A New Age" will be up. There should only be two more chapters after this. One of them will be very short. You will see why when you read it, and then will come the second of the two chapters, the epilogue. At any rate, Konoha's Solemn Hour Part 2! Enjoy!

Flashback:

__

"Xorias, it's okay… it's Shizune…" she turned to Sakura, "It doesn't seem like he's conscious… it may be a knee-jerk reaction in which… what the hell?"

"What is it?"

"Look, look at Xorias' eyes…" Sakura grabbed her wound painfully as she staggered to Xorias. His squad also gathered around him.

Sakura stared into his eyes, and nearly had a heart attack.

"My God… it's… it's…"

"It is, Sakura, it's a fourth wheel…"

End flashback.

Xorias shut his eyes again as if nothing happened. Everyone in the room, mostly Sakura and Shizune, were appalled. Shizune sighed nervously as she ran her fingers through her dark hair.

"A fourth wheel…?"

Sakura slumped back to her bed.

"I didn't think it was possible. I thought one could only achieve three wheels. That must give him a superior edge in battle."

"I need to work on healing him. Get some rest. Let's just hope that we can hold this village…"

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And that it had. The Konoha ninja had been on the offensive and were rallying, slowly pushing back the mercenaries. Naruto was just about kill one of the mercenary commanders, when a kunai landed just in front of him, collapsing his Rasengan.

He looked up to see roughly ten people in black cloaks, standing on the arch of the village gate near the top.

"The Council of Lorii…" Naruto said under his breath.

They jumped down all at once, causing Naruto to take a step back.

Naruto grabbed a few kunai and shuriken and threw it at Larza, They seemed to get about half way there when he heard a type of clinging noise before the kunai were deflected. Naruto stood confused, and threw some more, only to have them deflected in mid-air.

"Like it? This is the power of the sacred scrolls! Anything that is potentially harmful is deflected and negated. We are invincible!" Larza shouted laughing.

"We'll see about that!" yelled a chuunin as a he made a few hand signs, "**Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu**!"

As the fire got close enough, the flames extinguished themselves.

"This could be bad…" Kakashi said grimly.

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'Where am I?'

'Am I dead?'

Xorias was standing in a nearly endless white room.

__

'No young one, you are not dead.'

'Who are you?'

'I am an angel. This is not your time. Look there,' he ordered as the ground turned transparent briefly.

The angel pointed and Xorias noticed his body was laying on a hospital bed, and Sakura was holding his hand comfortingly.

__

'I would never do that to her. It would tear her apart…'

Then the scene changed and he then saw Kakashi and the others trying to stay alive against the nearly invincible Council members.

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'The sacred scrolls… that's what they call them. Xorias, you must stop them. The Lord has found favor with Konoha. The only way to stop them is in this plane of existence. In a "spirit form" you will use your sword that I will enchant to break the barrier. No one will see you, so this will add to the confusion. Go now, Xorias…"

'Wait! I heard that I now have a fourth wheel… what does that mean…?'

'That… Xorias is up to you to find out…'

The angel turned around as he flicked his hands sending Xorias to Konoha.

He then appeared in the village. He felt virtually weightless. He didn't feel any pain.

__

'So this is what death would be like…'

As he looked around he notices bodies of Konoha ninja and mercenary alike. As he trekked to the source of the commotion, he noticed his blade started to glow.

After a few minutes, he had spotted them… the Council of Lorii.

Larza laughed as the Konoha ninja were powerless and beaten. Naruto and the others had given it their all. Hinata was standing holding her arm in pain. Though she was pregnant (Only about a week of course), she was still fighting. Xorias, in spirit, walked to Hinata. He wondered if she would be able to hear him.

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'Hinata… Hinata can you hear me?'

She looked around confused.

__

'Good, she can,' he thought.

__

'Who is this?'

__

'This is Xorias… I am here to help you. No I'm not dead, only unconscious. An angel has tasked me with a job, I need you to quietly order people to attack when their scrolls lose effect…'

__

'How do you that?'

'I'll explain later, now, let's do this. I will strike their other-worldly barrier. Only you will know when you can actually attack. I can see the barrier, but you cannot. So use your instincts.'

She nodded her head, while getting weird looks from Kakashi. Xorias drew one of his scimitars hoisted to his back. His blade started glowing very brightly, something that would blind an earthly person.

He lifted the blade and walked to the barrier surrounding Larza and the others. Xorias swung horizontally as Hinata pulled out two kunai.

Larza laughed maniacally, "Have you not learned yet little girl. You can't win!"

She smirked and threw the kunai. Larza's smile disappeared instantly when he realized that the kunai had gone further than they should have. He leapt quickly out of the way.

Hinata piped up, "Everyone, the barrier is broken. There was no need for him to dodge, unless he had to. Now, attack!"

Larza growled under his breath as Naruto leapt at him.

"Mercenaries attack!" Larza screamed as tens of mercenaries appeared out of nowhere and were headed for Naruto and the others. They all cringed at the sudden turn of events. This was the end.

There were shouts as hundreds of kunai were imbedded in many of the mercenaries and dropped like flies.

"Sorry I'm late…"

They all turned to see Ten Ten, Neji, and Lee standing there, with Ten Ten's scroll opened.

"Just in time…" Hinata said grabbing a kunai. She threw it without looking and striking a mercenary in the throat, killing him instantly.

Larza saw Lee, and started talking, "Ah, you are Rock Lee. Daisuke told me about you. All about speed…"

Lee cocked one of his enormous eyebrows, "Really, well if that's the case…" he grabbed into his leg stockings and pulled of two small sized weights. "Then I must use a new technique seen by few."

Just as many genin had done years earlier, he laughed, "What will two weights do to improve your sp-"

There was a gigantic explosion as the weights contacted with the ground. Larza stood wide-eyed.

"There's no way…"

"Yes, there is," he whispered, already behind Larza. Lee struck at Larza sending him into the wall.

Another member of the Council started running to Lee, only to be confronted by Kakashi.

"You don't have luxury to do that."

The Sharingan user did a Kakashi-style bitch slap sending the warrior about twenty feet away. He stood up only to see Kakashi disappearing in a cloud of smoke. He was bewildered when he felt a hand grab his foot and drag him under.

Naruto leapt front if Kakashi , who was now above ground, taking a few kunai and then disappearing in a puff of smoke.

He nodded his thanks and turned around to block an attack. Naruto leapt in the air and struck down killing a mercenary.

They had to finish this fight soon, while the casualties were still low.

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Xorias watched as Naruto and the others fought even while exhausted. If only he could be out there helping them.

__

'People are dying because I was careless…' he thought.

'Young one, you have done well. You have saved your friends.'

'But… but people are dying because I can't be there to help.'

__

I will give you one hour. Defeat them, and restore balance.'

Xorias then suddenly woke up in the hospital, pain-free. Sakura, Shizune and all the others turned their heads.

"Xorias! You're okay!" Shizune yelled.

"I don't have much time. I need to find the Council."

"What do you mean?" Shizune asked.

"An angel came to me and gave me an hour before I go back to my unconscious state. I don't have long. Please take me to Naruto and the others."

"Right, Koyuke, take him to them… now!"

She nodded. Xorias and his team went out of the room.

Kimura looked to Xorias smiling, "Do we have a plan?"

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Sakura grabbed her side as she walked over to Shizune.

"I need to go too…"

"You're not going anywhere… you are too badly injured."

"But he needs me to be there…"

"He needs you to be safe, Sakura…"

She bit her lip as she crawled back into her bed.

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Naruto and the others were too badly outnumbered, even though they had strength on their side. They had Naruto cornered, three to one. He was out of chakra, and injured. One grabbed Naruto by the throat and held him in place. He drew his sword in the other hand. Another had pinned Hinata to the ground and had tied her hands together. She looked up at Naruto, tears welling up in her eyes.

"You see, even without our barriers, we still are superior to you," he laughed.

"Now Naruto, Hinata, die…" he said as two of the members lifted their blades preparing to strike down.

"Now, now, that's hardly fair…" they all heard a voice.

"X-Xorias? How in the hell? I thought Daisuke killed you…"

Xorias smirked drawing his two blades.

"I shall make you pay for your injustice. Prepare yourselves… I shall show no mercy…"

Larza flinched as Xorias leapt down from the building.

"There's still ten of us and one of you…"

"I see… is that so?"

Larza cocked one eyebrow.

"**Fire style: Fireball Jutsu**!"

Many of the council leapt aside grouping together to protect one another.

Larza looked around, realizing that it didn't come from Xorias.

There stood Kimura, and Mina.

"Correction; twelve on three…"

"Kill them," Larza ordered.

No one moved.

"I said kill them!"

He turned around and saw his underlings shaking.

"Now this seems much more even."

"Right into my trap… nicely done Koyuke," Xorias said, praising her.

"Damnit, we fell victim to Shadow Possession again… I don't believe it…"

"Well, looks like I have to fight you alone…" Larza said pulling back his hood revealing his raven-colored hair.

Xorias drew his two blades, "I will be honest with you… I only have a certain amount of time until I go back to my unconscious state. So I need to defeat you in that time."

Larza smirked, drawing his blade.

"I have waited for this moment for a long time, Uchiha. I will end you, and end your pitiful village."

Xorias kept his calm, "We shall see… come. I will show you the true power of an Uchiha."

Xorias closed and reopened his eyes revealing his Sharingan. The fourth wheel included, completely throwing Larza off guard.

Xorias moved in leaping high in the air and swinging down, Larza easily jumping aside. As Xorias landed he struck to the side to the surprise of his opponent. Larza rolled away throwing two kunai in the process. Xorias easily blocked them with his blades. Larza lunged only to have Xorias block with one blade and strike with the other. Larza couldn't dodge, and tried to jump back as much a possible, but still received a nick on the arm.

The battle continued for several minutes. At one point, both ninja were panting, trying to catch their breath. Xorias had the clear advantage, but Larza was doing a good job of holding him to minor injuries.

Xorias had to finish this quickly. He didn't have much time. He couldn't remember.

Meanwhile, Larza noticed Xorias' uneasiness and raised his blade preparing to attack again. Xorias then fell to his knees closing his eyes, blades in his hands though limp on the ground.

Larza lowered his blade and walked over to Xorias' limp body.

Hinata gasped, "Oh no, he didn't do it in time!"

She held tightly onto Naruto.

She continued, "We need to do something…"

"Well, well. Turns out you over estimated you own abilities. And now, you will pay for your arrogance… pitiful… you really are scum."

Larza raised his blade both hands above his head on his blade, ready to deal the finishing blow. Larza then felt a sharp pain as he looked down to see Xorias holding one of the blades in place in Larza's body. He began to cough up blood.

"How in the…? How did you…?"

"Larza, foolish Larza. You have known me for eight years. You think I would be so stupid as to tell you that I only had a short time to fight, without having a plan?"

"Then… th- that means…"

Flashback:

__

"I will be honest with you… I only have a certain amount of time until I go back to my unconscious state. So I need to defeat you in that time."

End flashback.

He laughed coughing up more blood, "You always… were the superior tactician… out of the… two… of us."

He staggered to his feet.

"But that doesn't mean that… I still can't win."

He lunged again, grabbing his side. Xorias easily blocked the attack. He crossed his other blade with that of Larza's and flicked his wrist sending his opponents blade off in the distance. Xorias finished the move by slicing around, making a large gash in his chest from his waist to his shoulders.

Larza crawled backwards, Xorias following him pointing one of his blades at him. Larza's strength gone, he stopped. He struggled once more to get up, with even more difficulty then the last attempt. Xorias, his cape attached to his uniform, flapping slightly reflected the light of the sun. Larza started to glow…

"For all the pain you have caused, for all the innocent lives you have taken, for all the wrongs that you have committed, may your God have mercy on your soul…"

He swung down to kill Larza, only to hear a loud, "cling."

Much to both his and Larza's surprise stood the one person, he didn't expect to see…

Fokuske.

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The two Sannin had wrapped up the rest of the battle. The mercenary army had been defeated and had retreated. But there was one who stood before them. He looked bigger than the others. He wore a sort of a purple cloak. But it was him against two Sannin and their summons. What he did next surprised the Sannin. He pricked his thumb and spread it across the underside of his arm.

He summoned a three… three headed snakes!

The wind blew his hood back, revealing Kabuto.

"As you can see, I have improved…"

Suddenly, when, all seemed hopeless. They were outnumbered, outgunned, Kabuto's face became horrified as in an instant, his arm disappeared, leaving a pool of blood.

He frantically looked around.

"I apologize for my lateness…"

The Hokage recognized that voice… it was the Kazekage!

"My reinforcements will be arriving shortly. We will help mop up any one else left. Sorry I was late. A double agent by the name of Fokuske sent me a hawk a little while before the invasion giving me all the details, allowing me time in advance to assemble my forces."

Upon hearing this, Kabuto disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Well, shall we clean house?" Gaara asked smiling.

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"F-Fokuske?"

"I am sorry, Xorias… I cannot let you kill Larza…"

Anger flared within Xorias, "You traitor, you were working with him all along… and… and I trusted you!"

"As I said before, I won't let you kill him…"

Then suddenly while he talking… he winked.

You read his lips as he mouthed the words, "Follow my lead…"

Fokuske let down his blade, as Xorias leapt upon it. Fokuske screamed, mustering all the strength he could and threw Xorias over Larza. Larza stood shocked as Xorias landed behind him. As quickly as possible, they both thrust their blades into Larza at the same time from different sides.

"You… you were… working with Xorias… all along…" he laughed slightly as she fell face flat on the ground, dead.

Suddenly, Xorias heard a clapping noise, "Well done, Xorias. Well done."

"That voice… no! It can't be! It's… Durei!" he said as he whipped around.

"How are you still alive?!"

He merely laughed jumping in front of Xorias, "I have learned my lesson. Talking only leaves me vulnerable…"

He cocked an eyebrow as Xorias prepared Chidori.

Xorias charged at Durei, thrusting the Chidori into Durei. But something repelled the Chidori! It seemed to be a jutsu of some kind.

"Being resurrected has it's advantages… I have discovered a new jutsu. It protects me from Chidori. I made it myself for when I had to face you again."

Xorias charged one again, and attacked but to no avail. But something caught the Sharingan's attention.

__

'Wait a second… there's a period of time, just a few seconds or so, where the shield weakens… I only have one more shot at this…'

"I see you are at your limit, Xorias. If you do it again, it may kill you."

"I have already been killed. You did that eight years ago, when you killed my family. It is impossible for me to die twice…"

He put all his remaining chakra into this last resort. Then he threw a smoke pellet onto the ground.

Xorias charged his Chidori with the smoke cover. Then Xorias made a daring move. He attempted to split his chakra in two and create a second Chidori in his other hand.

The smoke cleared and Durei stood laughing.

"Is that it? I would have let you charge Chidori. It wouldn't have affected me anyway…"

He stood still as he charged at Durei, just as Xorias planned. Xorias lunged and thrust his Chidori hitting the shield. As Chidori took its effect, Durei laughed, "I told you… not a single Chidori will work on me!"

Xorias smirked, "How about a second one?"

"What?!" he shouted as he noticed a second Chidori behind Xorias' back.

"This is for my family, the family that you murdered!"

Xorias thrust his Chidori, breaking his shield and killing Durei instantly.

Durei fell to the ground, limp for the second time…

"You killed both of them?"

Xorias heard a voice from the Council.

Another one piped up, "Then we are no longer your enemy…"

Xorias glanced at the warrior, "What?"

"That's right. Larza and Durei were tyrannical leaders and we only followed him out of fear. Now that they are gone. There is nothing binding us to their evil ways…"

Koyuke released the jutsu on the Council members. Just as she did that, one of the mercenary leaders leapt at Xorias. Xorias was too exhausted to fight any longer. But the mercenary was killed instantly by a kunai to the head. Xorias looked back to the Council members to see one with an outreached arm.

"So it is true after all…" Xorias concluded.

"You have just made a new ally Xorias," he said.

"Who will lead you now?"

They all pointed to Fokuske.

"Of course, the perfect choice…" Xorias said smiling.

"But let's make it official…"

Fokuske and Xorias walked to each other and shook hands.

"I look forward to fighting by Konoha's side in the future…"

"As do I…"

Konoha and The Council of Lorii had made up and were now allies.

Suddenly, Xorias collapsed on the ground.

"Hah, time's up…"

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Done, only the epilogue left, which shall be posted soon. Then… chapter one of "A New Age!"

Hope you enjoyed! I enjoyed writing it for you!


	12. Orochimaru! Epilogue

****

Never Surrender

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Here is the epilogue and a review of what happens. This takes place a year and a half later.

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Sakura jolted down the village streets. As she passed the residential sector, she met up with Ino.

"What is it, Sakura?"

"Shizune said he's awake! I need to see if it's true."

Tears started to well up in her green eyes.

She arrived at the hospital. He had been in a coma for a year and a half. He had sustained heavy injuries. It was because of Shizune that he survived. She hadn't talked with him in that long. A normal person would have gone crazy.

She opened the door and saw Xorias turn his head.

She smiled as he started talking, "Hey…"

"Hi."

She walked over to him and he sat up briefly. She wrapped her arms around him, "I'm glad you're back with us…"

"Me too…"

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It would be another week before Xorias was out of the hospital. Sakura didn't mind the wait. She had waited a year and a half. A week was nothing.

Naruto and Hinata had married and gave birth to their first child, Kiri. She had already started having small conversations with her parents.

Neji had stepped down as captain of the ANBU team. He said he thought his services would be more effective elsewhere, and was replaced by Xorias, in his stead. He had found out three days after he woke up, so it was still slightly shocking.

There had been no word from Orochimaru or his allies since their defeat a year and a half ago. And Orochimaru's former closest ally, the Council of Lorii, had created a strong alliance with Konoha.

However, not all was good. Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, had lost its leader, the Kazekage. He had gone missing a few months before Xorias woke up. He is still missing to this day.

One particular day, three months after Xorias woke up after his coma, Sakura and Xorias were walking through the Forest of Death, discussing the Chuunin exams and how they were going to go about administering it, when Xorias heard a voice.

"Almost two years… two years I have waited for this moment… who knew it would be this simple."

Sakura recognized the voice right away, "Oh no… it can't be… it's… Orochimaru!"

Xorias immediately drew his swords. Though it had been a three full months, he hadn't been in real combat for quite some time. Out of the shadows stepped Orochimaru and Kabuto, with only one arm. Tsunade had explained what happened that day.

Xorias turned to Sakura, "Sakura, go and get help… I will hold them off…"

"But… you're still…"

"Don't worry," he reassured her activating his Sharingan, "Besides, I have my Sharingan… I'll be fine," he said pointing a finger to his right eye.

She started to dart away then turned around quickly, "Be careful, I don't want to lose you again…"

"I will…"

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Tsunade had just completed the last of her paperwork and had it all neatly stacked and in alphabetical order. Just as she sighed, Sakura busted through the door, flushing the papers all over the room. She tried to keep her calm and gritted her teeth, "This better be good, or I swear, I am going to beat you so hard, your great grandchildren will feel it."

"He's back! Orochimaru's back!" Sakura explained catching her breath.

Tsunade immediately stood up.

"Scramble all available ninja, priority top! Recall all ninja on missions! This is an emergency!"

"May Kami have mercy on our souls…"

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The story is now officially complete! Chapter one of "A New Age" coming shortly!


End file.
